International Mediators Preparing Meeting of Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia

Baku / 28.09.17 / Turan: In early October, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will visit the region, where they will hold meetings with the leadership of Azerbaijan and Armenia with a view to preparing the meeting of the Presidents of the two countries.

This became known after the talks of the Co-chairs with the Foreign Ministers of the two countries in New York on September 22-23 in the framework of the UN General Assembly.

"The main goal of the meeting was to discuss the current situation in the conflict zone, study ways to intensify the negotiation process and prepare for the forthcoming summit of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan," the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs said in a statement.

Following this, the UN Secretary General Gutierrez made a statement on the possible meeting of the Presidents of the two countries.

However, it is not reported where and when such a meeting is possible. The very idea of ​​such a meeting at the moment looks unlikely, given the rhetoric of the parties. In particular, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, speaking at the same UN General Assembly, called the Armenian President a war criminal.

Another remarkable point was the unexpected statement of Armenian Foreign Minister Nalbandian about the possibility of liberation and return of part of the territories around Karabakh, from which "there will be no threat," to Azerbaijan.

Apparently, the parties are conducting some behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Moscow. Indirect confirmation of this was the statement of the head of the State Duma Committee of the Russian Federation Konstantin Kosachev on the readiness of the parties to conclude a peace agreement on Karabakh.

The near future will show how realistic these expectations are. -02D-