OSCE MG Co-Chair regrets Armenian, Azeri FMs’ not meeting in Basel

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick expressed regret that no meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov took place on the sidelines of the ministerial council in Basel.

“We regret the ForMins of Armenia and Azerbaijan were unable to meet at OSCE. Dialogue is a necessary part of the peace process,” Warlick said in his Twitter post.

Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian issued a statement at the 21st Meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel.

Commenting on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, Nalbandian noted, "this year marks the 20th anniversary of the cease-fire agreement, reached by Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Azerbaijan did everything to undermine the ceasefire regime, despite the calls of the international community to reinforce the cease-fire agreement of May 1994 and fully implement cease-fire consolidation agreement of February 1995. Military actions of the Azrebaijani side along the line of contact and on the Armenia Azerbaijani border, resulted in a significant loss of live and drastically raised tensions on the ground.

During last years our diplomacy, together with the three Co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, the only internationally agreed mediation format, has spared no efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem. Despite the intensive efforts of the three Co-Chair countries during the last 6 years: about 20 summits, several dozens of meetings on ministerial level, visits of the three Co-Chairs to the region, it has been impossible to reach a breakthrough in the conflict resolution, because the Azerbaijani side rejected one after another all proposals presented by the mediators.

The more the international community, through the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs appeals to the sides of the conflict to prepare populations for peace and not war, the more we hear from Azerbaijan, increasing bellicose warmongering, anti-Armenian hate-speech, glorification of murderers of Armenians and persecution of those journalists, civil society activists, representatives of intelligentsia, who pursue confidence building and reconciliation projects, presenting them as “Armenian spies”. The more the international community is calling on the sides to withdraw snipers from the line of contact, the more sniper shootings, provocative incidents, subversive acts are coming from the Azerbaijani side, resulting in numerous casualties.

The more oil revenues are enriching the Azerbaijani budget, the more weaponry and armament are purchased by Baku.

The recent shooting down by the Azerbaijani armed forces of the helicopter of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army during a training flight, which took the lives of three young servicemen, is Baku’s latest criminal provocation. The Azerbaijani army for almost ten days continuously kept the area of the helicopter shooting under intensive fire, hindering rescue teams, the OSCE, International Committee of the Red Cross representatives to approach that site and evacuate the bodies of killed crew members, which became another gross violation of international humanitarian law by Azerbaijan.

Baku continues to oppose itself to the international community, which was once again demonstrated by its reaction to the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on the helicopter shooting. Azerbaijan is clearly losing the sense of reality and day by day is deepening the gap between itself and the civilized world.

To achieve a durable peace, stability and security in the region, Armenia will continue to invest its utmost efforts towards the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict exclusively through peaceful means."