EU envoy appraises renewed talks on Karabakh conflict
By Gunay Camal
The Vienna meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents, as well as the possible holding of the next meeting on reaching consensus on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a very positive indicator.
Head of the EU Delegation to Baku Malena Mard made the remark while talking to journalists on June 2, further elaborating that the EU welcomes holding of such meetings.
The May 16 meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan in Vienna was their first face-to-face encounter since the April hostilities.
The presidents agreed on following of ceasefire, as well as on “a next round of talks, to be held in June at a place to be mutually agreed, with an aim to resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement.”
Mard further noted that the EU is very pleased that such steps are being taken towards the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs also work actively for holding the next meeting of the presidents,” she added.
Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. The OSCE Minsk Group, created for the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could not find a way out of the situation so far.
U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Robert Cekuta has earlier stated that the OSCE MG co-chairs are working and trying to move forward the negotiation process on the conflict settlement.
"We are looking to build on the progress," he said on June 1, further adding that the co-chairs are trying to continue the negotiation process.
The bloody Nagorno-Karabakh war, which flared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor, left 700,000 civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the regions adjoining it, as well as the regions bordering with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh without homes.
Moreover, 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from Armenia and became refugees due to Armenia's ethnic cleansing policy after the emergence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.
Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.
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