MG co-chairs wait for clarification of sides’ positions to move forward over Karabakh conflict resolution
By Sara Rajabova
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are waiting for the sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to clarify their positions before moving forward, Russian co-chair of Minsk Group said.
"In the past two years, a meeting was held at the level of foreign ministers, whereas, in my opinion and that of the other co-chairs, it is time to continue high-level meetings to delineate a schedule and clarify one's positions," Igor Popov said.
He made the remarks after the mediators' meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, Armenian media reported.
Nalbandian received the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and Personal Representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk on November 5.
The sides discussed possible ways of moving forward a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The co-chairs' meeting with Armenia President Serzh Sargsyan was scheduled for November 5.
Referring to the visit to Baku, Popov said that there were meetings with the Azerbaijani President, Foreign Minister and Defense Minister.
"The issues under discussion also included the question of organizing meetings at the level of Presidents, which we will submit to Sargsyan today," Popov said.
U.S. Co-Chair James Warlick said that the co-chairs were working towards establishing peace, because they realized that the situation was difficult for both sides of the conflict.
The co-chairs are planning to organize a meeting between the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia by the end of the year.
During the co-chairs' visit to Baku, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Foreign Minister Elamr Mammadyarov, and Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov received the mediators on November 4.
They discussed the current state of and prospects for talks to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.
Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.