Steinmeier - Maintaining Status Quo in Karabakh Impossible

The issue of the Karabakh settlement was a key in the negotiations in Yerevan. This was stated by the Acting OSCE Chairman, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the joint press conference with the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian in Yerevan on June 29.

The Minister is in Armenia within a regional visit, and after Yerevan he will visit Baku and Tbilisi.

As the German Minister said, two months had passed since the resumption of hostilities in April, where people were killed on both sides. "For all the parties - not only the direct participants, but also the OSCE - it is obvious that the continuation of the status quo is impossible. The longer the conflict lasts, the more increases the likelihood of escalation. It is necessary to avoid it. OSCE endeavors and I am, as Acting Chairman, in the search for lasting peace," Steinmeier said.

According to him, the efforts of the mediators and summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg made the situation more relaxed. "We are on the right track," said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, adding that it is necessary to maintain the trend and make the negotiation process more direct. "We need efforts of the OSCE and the Co-Chairs and the parties' willingness to compromise," Steinmeier said.

Recall that today the German Minister arrived in Baku, where he will meet with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. -02D-