Expert: Deauville statement suggests time for Karabakh settlement expiring

 May 27, 2011 - 13:10 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Head of European Integration NGO Karen Bekaryan said the May 26 statement made on the sidelines of the G8 Summit in Deauville by the leaders of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries with respect to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution differs from previous statements.

“The leaders called on the parties to finalize the basic principles, i.e. they indicated that the time for the problem resolution is expiring,” Bekaryan told a press conference in Yerevan.

Besides, according to him, the statement contains certain pressure on the parties to the conflict. “It gives to understand that the co-chair countries will resort to other measures in case the sides fail to reach an agreement,” Bekaryan said.

“The statement fixes the principle of non-use of force as a clear message to Azerbaijan, since Armenia has never threatened war,” he added.

The leaders of the United States, France and Russia called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to move toward a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

"We...are convinced that it is time for the sides in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh to take a decisive step toward a peaceful resolution (of the conflict)," said a joint statement by Presidents Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev.

"We firmly call on the leaders of the sides to prepare their people for peace, not war," the statement said. "We call on the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia to demonstrate political will and finalize...the basic principles (of a peace agreement) during the forthcoming summit in June."

The Presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are slated to meet in June in the Russian city of Kazan, the next in a series of trilateral meetings on the conflict.