Armenia, Azerbaijan need to trust each other once again: State Dept

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States is confident that the summit between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders offered the Presidents an important opportunity to meet face to face for the first time in over a year and to clarify their positions, a spokesperson for the U.S. State department said.

“The presidents themselves recognized that the situation on the ground has deteriorated and expressed concern about civilian casualties caused by the use of heavy weapons,” John Kirby told a daily briefing. “At their request, the Minsk Group Co-chairs will continue to work on proposals to reduce the risk of violence. The Co-chairs are also prepared to support a meeting of the Presidents next year to continue their discussions on a settlement.”

As a co-chair country, Kirby said, the United States remains firmly committed to mediating a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

In response to comment on an initiative to locate gun detectors and sensors along the contact line, Kirby reiterated the U.S. support to reduce the risk of violence along the line of contact.

“Our Minsk Group Co-chair, Ambassador Warlick, together with his Russian and French counterparts, continue to discuss these and other these measures with both sides. Another way to reduce tensions, we believe, is to increase people-to-people contacts, especially among the communities of Nagorno Karabakh. Armenians and Azerbaijanis lived side by side for generations, and we believe that for peace to come, they will need to trust each other once again,” Kirby said.

Further responding to a comment, suggesting that no support is coming from Azerbaijan on the issue, the spokesperson said he “won’t get into the specifics of diplomatic discussions. I think we’ve been very clear about where we are through the Minsk group in what we want to see. We want to see proposals put forward that all sides can implement to foster peace and better security.”

President Serzh Sargsyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev met Saturday, December 19 in Bern, Switzerland.

The Presidents’ private talks lasted a little more than an hour, the OSCE Minsk Group U.S. Co-chair James Warlick said in a tweet.

The leaders agreed to continue negotiations in 2016.