Political analyst: co-chairs support further talks to prevent Karabakh conflict escalation

PanARMENIAN.Net - France assumed mediatory initiative in Karabakh conflict settlement which used to belong to Russia, according to deputy director of Caucasus Institute.

In a conversation with a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, political analyst Sergey Minasyan commented on French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe’s statement suggesting additional offers to achieve agreement on Karabakh issue will be submitted to conflicting parties.

“I don’t believe he meant Azeri suggestions advanced by Aliyev in Kazan, the offers may refer to the next stage in negotiations,” he said.

Minasyan stressed the importance of continuation of talks, noting that to prevent conflict escalation, the co-chairs will take their best efforts for negotiations to go on.

According to the expert, the parties are not ready for concessions; no progress is possible unless NKR is involved in negotiations.

The summit between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia in Kazan on June 24 completed without an agreement on basic principles of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. “The countries’ leaders registered mutual understanding on a range of problems, the resolution of which boosts creation of conditions for approving main principles. The meeting participants considered the course of works carried out with the aim of coordination of the project with basic principles,” according to the statement. The Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan expressed gratitude to the Russian, French and U.S. leaders, the OSCE Minsk group co-chairs, for ‘their constant attention to Nagorno-Karabakh problem’ and highly praised personal efforts of the Russian President in support of agreements.

Later on Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian noted that the June 24 meeting was not a breakthrough, as Azerbaijan proved unready to accept the final version of the basic principles suggested by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs. Instead, the Azerbaijani leader attempted to impose 10 new proposals, thus precluding the possibility of any agreement on the issue,” he added.