Paris prepares meeting Aliyev-Sarkisian

Next meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents prepared with mediation of the French President is to take place at the end of October in Paris. The agreement was reached after a meeting of Aliyev and Sargsyan in Sochi with the mediation of Russian President Vladimir Putin in August.

The co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, USA and France) have  been active due to a sharp deterioration of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh this summer, bringing the death toll on both sides reached variously estimated from 30 to 50 people.

After the meeting in Sochi, Aliyev and Sargsyan met also in Wales with the mediation of the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry.

On October 7 the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian left for Paris for the preparation to the forthcoming meeting. Most likely, in the near future Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan will also leave for Paris.

According to diplomatic sources, the new EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus conflict Herber Salberwill arrive in Baku on  the eve of the Paris meeting. He will  have talks with the Azerbaijani leadership, and will  probably visit Armenia.

Observers do not expect a breakthrough  from the future meeting in Paris, believing that the main task of the OSCE Minsk Group at this stage - is to keep the sides of the full-scale war,  since  there is not a coherent and realistic option for  settlement.

President Ilham Aliyev will also  have unpleasant conversation with Francois Oland on the  massive repression  against civil society. Among the arrested activists is  the  Commander of the Order of the Legion of Honor, a human rights activist Leyla Yunus.

During his visit to Baku, Oland met with her and discussed her issue with the authorities. However, shortly after   the departure of the French President, Leyla Yunus and her husband were arrested. -02В-