ArmInfo. "The wanderings of a couple of Pashinyan- Mnatsakanyan in the Karabakh issue over the past 1.5 years ended in the fact that in order to avoid impending disaster, they again began to hold on to a life buoy in the form of a package to resolve the Karabakh conflict, developed by a couple of Sargsyan-Nalbandyan," said Deputy Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia Armen Ashotyan on December 6 at a press conference.
According to Ashotyan, if you listen to the speech of Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan in Bratislava, then, apart from the idea of acceptable conflict resolution for the three peoples (Armenia, Artsakh and Azerbaijan. Ed.), It seems that ex-minister Eduard Nalbandyan is speaking.
However, discussions on Karabakh in Bratislava are very vague. "It is necessary to understand what happened in Bratislava. I have versions that I don't want to voice at the moment, but I think that the authorities, who have declared themselves transparent, should explain what really happened there," the RPA deputy head said. At the same time, as Ashotyan admits, the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group co- chairs, despite a number of episodes controversial for the Armenian side, is "the best for the last 1.5 years." Recall that on December 4 in the evening in the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, a meeting was held between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov. It was held as part of the 26th OSCE Ministerial Conference with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group co- chairs Igor Popov (RF), Stefan Visconti (France) and Andrew Chaufer (USA), as well as personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.
The heads of delegations of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries made a joint statement on the eve of the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Karabakh settlement in Bratislava. The statement, in particular, states that the heads of delegations of the co-chairing countries welcome concrete steps taken last year to reduce tensions and prepare the population for peace, which the co-chairing countries called for in a Milan statement in December 2018 and the ministers agreed in Paris in January 2019. "We recommend (make) efforts to implement humanitarian measures that were discussed by the leaders of the countries at the meeting in Vienna in March and which were prepared by the foreign ministers in Moscow in April," the statement said. An example is the recently concluded exchange of journalists and the "simultaneous release of prisoners on 28 June".
Noting that only such efforts play an important role in creating an atmosphere conducive to substantive negotiations for a peaceful settlement, the three heads of delegation called for additional specific humanitarian and security measures.
The statement noted that the heads of delegation of the co-chairing countries urged the parties to immediately take concrete steps to implement the previously reached agreements on humanitarian and security measures.
The authors of the statement welcome the intention of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia to meet again in early 2020 under the auspices of the co-chairs to intensify negotiations on key issues of a peaceful settlement and to facilitate further high-level negotiations.
The heads of delegation of the co-chairing countries emphasized that the status quo is unacceptable and that there can be no military solution to the conflict. "Therefore, we urge the parties to conduct substantive negotiations on the merits without artificial delays or conditions," the statement emphasizes.
The authors of the document express confidence that the format of the OSCE Minsk Group remains an indispensable center for achieving a stable settlement.