No clarity over Karabakh meeting with Azerbaijan: Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia's Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said on Wednesday, November 23 that there is no clarity concerning a possible meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign policy chiefs in Hamburg.

A session of the OSCE Foreign Ministers Council will be held in the German city on December 8-9.

According to Kocharyan, it's impossible to register progress in the process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement as long as there's a threat of renewed hostilities.

"The Armenian sides have never dodged meetings," Kocharyan said.

"Our only expectation was for the summits to be efficient, but the fact is there is no progress in the settlement process."

"No advancement can be achieved unless the agreements reached at summits in Vienna and Saint Petersburg are implemented," he added.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azeri leader Ilham Aliyev met on June 20 in Saint Petersburg to address the conflict, with Russian President Vladimir Putin mediating the talks. The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents confirmed their commitment to the implementation of agreements reached at a Vienna-hosted meeting on May 16. To that end, they agreed to increase the number of international observers in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone. Also, they expressed satisfaction that the ceasefire was now holding. Prior to that, a meeting between both leaders was organized on May 16 in Vienna, with top diplomats from the MG co-chairing countries hosting the summit.

Also, Kocharyan said the situation can't improve as long as there is a threat of war and the sides don't trust each other, with continued [Azerbaijani] shooting and provocations along the contact line.