Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The OSCE Minsk Group expects a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and France in Paris in late October.

The presidents are expected to meet to mull the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

"We hope that the presidents will come to Paris ready to hold constructive talks," U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick told Trend news agency.

Speaking about the recent trilateral meeting of President Ilham Aliyev, President Serzh Sargsyan and U.S. Secretary of State Kerry, Warlick said this was a productive meeting held on the sidelines of NATO Wales summit.

The meeting was organized with a view to better understand the positions of the parties, as well as promote the adoption of measures to achieve peace, Warlick said.

He noted that Kerry urged the parties to respect the ceasefire and reduce tensions on the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops. The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents reaffirmed their commitment to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully, according to Warlick.

Warlick also added that Kerry called on the presidents of both countries to continue negotiations towards a lasting peaceful settlement of the conflict.

"We have a lot of work to do in the months ahead to advance our mutual goal of bringing peace to the people of the region, and the Secretary's meeting helped to clarify where to focus our efforts," he noted.

He further said that only when the sides demonstrate that they are truly ready for peace there will be finally a resolution to the conflict.

"The OSCE Minsk Group will exhaust all efforts to help the sides reach a lasting settlement through the Minsk Group, but we cannot impose a solution," Warlick said, noting that ultimately, a settlement requires political will on both sides.

Further speaking about the California State Senate's resolution calling for recognition of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Warlick stressed that the U.S. Constitution empowers the federal government to conduct foreign policy.

"State governments and legislatures have the right to issue non-binding statements on foreign affairs, but they do not represent U.S. policy," he said.

California Senate passed a resolution, which is of an anti-Azerbaijani nature on August 27. The resolution (AJR 32), calling to recognize a separatist regime in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan was introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto at the behest of the Armenian lobby. Gatto submitted the proposal to California State Legislature on January 6.

Azerbaijani Consulate General in Los Angeles has condemned the adoption of an anti-Azerbaijani resolution. The Azerbaijani community of California also got mobilized and through various means harshly protested against the resolution.

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.