Yerevan Expresses Pessimism for Outcome of Meeting of Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian accused Azerbaijan of a non-constructive position on the outcome of the meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Bern on 19 December, the Armenian media reported.

According to him, over the last 7 years there were about 20 meetings and summits of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, and in the course of some of them the parties were very close to an agreement.

"However, Azerbaijan has always made a step back. Enough time has passed, more than a year since the last summit in Paris last October, and the organization of a new meeting is very important," said Nalbandian.

The purpose of the meetings of the heads of the two states is to achieve progress in the talks on the Karabakh settlement.

"But for progress it is necessary that Azerbaijan should show such an attitude. In reality, the things are just the opposite. The agenda of the meeting was prompted by the escalation of the situation, provocations of Azerbaijan, gross violations of the ceasefire. Naturally, when such a tense situation prevails, other issues are relegated to the background. Azerbaijan is still unable to get rid of the illusion that the application or threat of force could be used as a tool in the negotiations," said Nalbandian.

"Unfortunately, the approaches of the parties are not the same. However, in this case, Azerbaijan's position does not coincide with the approaches not only of Armenia, but also the co-chairs," said Nalbandian.

Official Baku has not commented on the results of the meeting.

The talks were held behind closed doors and lasted more than an hour. The American co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick wrote about this on Twitter. The meeting started with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group and continued with the assistance of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman Andrzej Kasprzyk. Then the two leaders continued the meeting alone. -02D-