OSCE Minsk Group: The time has come for the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to meet

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America, and Pierre Andrieu of France,  issued a statement on May 12 saying that they remain fully committed to mediating a lasting settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"In light of the recent violence and the urgency of reducing tensions along the Line of Contact, we believe the time has come for the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to meet.

Our Foreign Ministers are prepared to facilitate this meeting next week in Vienna. Their main objectives will be to reinforce the ceasefire regime, and to seek agreement on confidence-building measures that would create favorable conditions for resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement on the basis of elements and principles under discussion.

There can be no success in negotiations if violence continues, and there can be no peace without a negotiation process.  We reiterate that there is no military solution to the conflict," the co-chairs say in the statement.

After the April aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan in the Karabakh conflict zone, the talks between Yerevan and Baku have been broken.  The Armenian sides insists that the negotiations can be resumed on condition of introducing confidence building mechanisms, making targeted statements, and providing guarantees that Azerbaijan will not launch a new aggression and terror attacks against the Karabakh people.  The Armenian side urges introduction of mechanisms of inquiring into the border incidents. The OSCE MG also insists on this requirement, amid Baku's refusal to do it.