On Wednesday, Minster of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Vardan Oskanyan, met with OSCE Minsk Group Russian and French co-presidents Yuri Merzlyakov and Bernar Fassie in Paris. This was the first meeting of the minister and the co-presidents since the June 9 meeting of the Armenian and Azeri presidents, Robert Kocharyan and Ilham Aliev, in St. Petersburg.
According to the press service of the ministry, besides the mentioned co-presidents, personal representative of the OSCE president, Angie Kasprchik, and U.S. State Department official, Elizabeth Rood, also participated in the meeting in Paris. During the meeting an evaluation was given regarding the results of the last Kocharyan-Aliev meeting. The possibilities of bringing the positions of the Armenian and Azeri sides closer and the further actions to take in the process of the talks were discussed. OSCE American co-president Matthew Bryza did not participate in the meeting. Bryza is the deputy assistant to the U.S. Secretary of State, and on those days he was in Washington during the consultations on American-Azeri security issues. Let us recall that those consultations were supposed to have taken place earlier on. But, supposedly, after the U.S. State Department changed the phrase “Armenia continues to occupy the Azeri territories of Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding regions” (the “modification” was that it was added that Armenian officials don’t accept that the Armenian side has “occupied” Karabakh itself), the Azeri side postponed the consultations as a sign of protest. When the State Department reinstated the former formulation of the report, the Azeri side expressed its willingness to participate in the postponed consultations. During the recent consultations, some of the main issues discussed included the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Putin’s proposal to jointly use the Gabala radar station with Russia. After the consultations, Stevan Mall, assistant official on political and strategic issues of the U.S. Secretary of State, announced that the Russian proposal to use the Gabala station is not an alternative to U.S. plans for allocating an anti-missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.
“For us, it is unacceptable to have Gabala become an alternative to the programs which we are consistent on with our Polish and Czech allies. The allocation of those systems is necessary for the protection of our interests in Europe. Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as NATO, have given their consent. So, we don’t think that the proposal regarding Gabala will come as a substitute,” underlined Mall, according to “FrancePress”.
During the U.S.-Azerbaijan consultations, as we mentioned, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement issue was discussed, within the context of regional security. After the consultations, Azeri deputy foreign affairs minister Araz Azimov announced during a press conference that official Washington has always recognized Azerbaijan’s independence and territorial integrity. The American Minsk Group co-president, Matthew Bryza, refused to interpret this announcement. However, he did say the following: “There are debates on the issue concerning which the primary principle is – the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan or the people’s right to autonomy.”
“With that said, there is no general resolution and no internationally recognized approach,” added Bryza. “As far as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement talks are concerned, we have gotten to the point when the serious and difficult decisions must be made by the Armenian and Azeri presidents.”
Bryza highly appreciated the one-day visit of the group of scientists and cultural activists of Armenia and Azerbaijan to Stepanakert, Yerevan and Baku.
“That visit became an important development of events. It is not a gap, but what we are talking about is the huge, serious means aimed at strengthening trust,” he said.
Recently, the Committee of Ministers of GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova) dispersed an announcement that condemns the Nagorno-Karabakh presidential elections to be held on July 19. The ministers of foreign affairs of GUAM-member countries have announced that the presidential elections of Karabakh must be considered “illegal” and “can’t have any legal power”. Expressing sorrow for the elections to be held in the “seized territories of Azerbaijan”, the committee of ministers has claimed that “similar “elections” violate the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the principles of international law.”
“The elections in Nagorno-Karabakh may be legal only after the integration of Nagorno-Karabakh in the political, social and economic systems of Azerbaijan, the return of the refugees to their permanent residencies, the reinstatement of transportation relations, and the guarantee of the peaceful coexistence between the Armenian and Azeri communities. Only then may there be legal elections in Nagorno-Karabakh,” stated the announcement of the GUAM Committee of Ministers dispersed by the Azeri Foreign Affairs Ministry. The ministers of foreign affairs of the GUAM-member countries call on the international community to condemn the “illegal act” and support future efforts for the peaceful settlement of the conflict “under the condition of the preservation of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.”