EU Special Envoy: "The NK peace process is certainly in a difficult  stage but I would not describe it according to the information  that we have as a deadlock situation"

ArmInfo. International efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have not reached an impasse despite fresh recriminations traded by Armenia and Azerbaijan, a senior European Union diplomat said during a visit to Yerevan on  Friday.

"The peace process is certainly in a difficult stage but I would not  describe it according to the information that we have as a  deadlock situation," Herbert Salber, the EU's special representative  to the South Caucasus, told RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).   "It seems to me that people, leaders of the sides are talking," he  said. "I observe that the Minsk Group co-chair countries are making a  lot of efforts. We have seen a lot of travel all over the place  during the summer. So I have good reasons to believe that the talks  are going on." "I think we should make a difference between the talks  themselves and declarations that are made for whatever purposes,"  Salber added in reference to the latest statements by Armenian and  Azerbaijani leaders blaming each other for a lack of decisive  progress in the Karabakh negotiation process.  The Armenian and  Azerbaijani presidents raised fresh hopes for a breakthrough after  meeting twice in the wake of heavy fighting around Karabakh that  broke out in early April. The U.S., Russian and French mediators  co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group hoped that they will meet again soon  in an effort to flesh out understandings reportedly reached by them.   It is still not clear, however, whether another Armenian-Azerbaijani  summit will take place before the end of this year. The co-chairs are  due to visit the conflict zone later this month.  Salber suggested  that the mediators are unlikely to radically change their peace  proposals.  "I would not expect too much here because proposals are  on the table, they have been discussed over the summer, and I am very  confident that if the co-chairs visit the region soon these proposals  will be discussed further and maybe also amended," he said. "But that  is in their hands." The EU envoy also expressed hope that the  situation along "the line of contact" around Karabakh and the  Armenian-Azerbaijani border will remain "relatively calm." Adherence  to the ceasefire regime there is "one of the preconditions for  productive talks," he said.  Salber met with President Serzh  Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian during his latest  trip to Armenia. The Karabakh issue was reportedly high on the agenda  of his talks.