Meetings of Shahnazaryan and Namazov at OSCE MG

Baku/09.12.13/Turan : Recently in Kiev , in addition to the official meeting of foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov, the OSCE Minsk Group , also held another meeting .

As reported by the Azerbaijani media , the day after the official meeting on December 5 , at the initiative of the two co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group U.S. James Warlick and French Jacques Faure , as well as the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman Anzhdey Kasprzyk there was a meeting with representatives of " civil Independent Minsk process " , opposition politicians - Armenian President's Ambassador for Special Assignments in 1992-95 David Shahnazaryan and adviser to former Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev Eldar Namazov .

Aravot.am asked David Shahnazaryan : what was the purpose of the meeting in Kiev and what the expectations of the OSCE Minsk Group on the " Independent Civil Minsk Process". Shahnazaryan firstly said that he and Eldar Namazov met with the Co-Chairs as members of the " Independent Civil Minsk Process," in the past officials of Armenia and Azerbaijan in the negotiations on the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh.

During the meeting held in Kiev , according to Shahnazaryan, they introduced the co-chairs upcoming plans " Independent Civil Minsk Process" , as well as their points of view as possible to give a certain activity and effectiveness to the negotiation process under  the OSCE Minsk Group in terms of existing and new realities in the region. "In particular, we expressed the view that the negotiation process within the OSCE Minsk Group is extremely closed and it should be possible for a transparent society, as we are sure that the presidents and foreign ministers of the two countries , as a rule, do not represent societies at the negotiating table, " said David Shahnazaryan .

By the way, to the question why the co-chair Igor Popov of Russia, who was also in Kiev, was not present at the meeting, Shahnazaryan said diplomatically that the initiators of the meeting were not he or Namazov .

Commenting at the request of agency Turan the results of the meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group in Kiev, Eldar Namazov , in turn, said: " Very often we hear the opinion that the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia are ready to make compromises and agreements to resolve the conflict , but the society is not ready for this. To assert that, it is necessary to enable the public discussion of the peace settlement , to make the negotiation process more transparent. It is a vicious circle: without the consent of the society peaceful settlement is impossible , but the society in both countries is isolated and removed from the discussion of possible models of conflict resolution. Independent Civil Minsk Process is , in my opinion , an interesting idea that could fill this vacuum , especially given the fact that it will involve people with experience in negotiating , knowing all the "pitfalls" of this difficult process." - 0 -