Tuesday, November 8 2016 17:31

ArmInfo.  The format of the meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh to be held in Hamburg has not been decided yet, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian stated at  the joint press conference with Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on November 8.

"We will follow the process and will see what proposals the OSCE MG  Co-Chairs will make on the organization of the meeting. I can only  surely state that the meeting with the Co-Chairs will be held",  Nalbandian noted. 

The Armenian Foreign Minister recalled that one of the OSCE Minsk  Group Co-Chairs (James Warlick- USA-ed. note) has stated about the  possible meeting of Armenia and Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministers in  Hamburg. 

"After this Azerbaijan stated that it is ready for the meeting.  However, Baku makes conflicting statements.  On the one hand they are  stating about the readiness to participate in the meeting, initiated  by the co-chair countries, on the other hand they make statements in  which they oppose the Co-Chairs' approaches and state that the  conflict should be settled based on one principle only", Nalbandian  noted. In this context he recalled that OSCE MG Co-Chairs have  repeatedly stated that Karabakh conflict may be settled only based on  all the three principles, which are non-use of force or threat by  force, people's right to self-determination and territorial  integrity. 

According to Armenia's Foreign Minister it has been stated repeatedly  that these principles proposed by the Co-Chairs are an integral whole  and any attempts to consider them separately will create quite  complex situation in the settlement process. 

"That is why I think that Baku should decide whether it really wants  to continue negotiations in this trilateral format, as on the one  hand it states that it is ready to participate in the negotiations,  on the other opposes the co-chairs' proposals and the basis set in  the settlement process. Otherwise, participation in negotiations  looks like imitation. Azerbaijan's participation in Vienna and Saint  Petersburg summits testify to this. Up to now they refuse to fulfill  agreements reached in these meetings and do everything possible to  fail their implementation," the Armenian Foreign Minister noted. 

At the same time Nalbandian stated that all those who were doubtful  that Azerbaijan may escalate the situation received clear evidences  of that in early April this year when Baku unleashed a wide scale  aggression. 

According to Nalbandian after Azerbaijan's wide-scale aggression in  April OSCE MG Co-Chairs and Armenia's efforts have been aimed at  creating relevant conditions for reaching progress in negotiations  process on the peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict. The Foreign  Minister of Armenia also stressed that Armenia has never refused from  meetings and accepted the format of negotiations, proposed by the Co-  Chairs, unlike Azerbaijan, which only few months ago refused to meet  the Co-Chairs calling them hopeless tourists. 

He noted that Armenia is ready to participate in the meetings but  everything depends on processes prior to Hamburg, "As always  Azerbaijan again is trying to escalate the situation announcing this  time holding of wide-scale military drills involving almost the whole  resources of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces-60 thousand servicemen,  tanks, planes and other equipment. This also infringes Vienna  document, according to which they should have informed about the  drills 45 days beforehand, in case nearly 9 thousand servicemen are  involved in them", Nalbandian noted. In this context he added that  Azerbaijan has initiated such actions on the threshold of Hamburg  meeting. He also stated that Azerbaijan recently has deliberately  escalated the situation on the border.

To note, OSCE Ministerial in Hamburg will be held in early December.   OSCE MG US Co-Chair has stated earlier that within the session  meeting between foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia is  possible.