ArmInfo. Vaghram Baghdasaryan the Head of the ruling Republican Party faction, thinks that Artsakh peace talks could be resumed only after having implemented Vienna and Petersburg agreements. He stated that during the briefing at Parliamenton December 9, commenting the Karabakh-related statement of OSCE MG co-chairs countries delegations heads at Hamburg.
"We have to see the will of Baku to implement these agreements, because only in that case the talks process could move on,' he state, adding that the meeting of two countries' Presidents under current conditions will not be effective. The republican thinks also that mediators should come out with addressed statements. "But they don't do that now, because they are afraid to harm the peace talks process," the politician said. Baghdasaryan stated also, that currently the first priority for Armenia is the self determination of Artsakh. " We never said the war is impossible, but I don't think that Baku is ready to war," he mentioned.
In his turn, the Prosperous Armenia faction head Mikael Melkumyan stated that after the April war the matter was not the peace talks, but the terms of resuming peace talks. "In particular, to create tools to fetch out the cease fire violations. To our regret, we do not possess those, hence we have to secure the implementation of agreements," he accentuated, adding that is impossible to resume peace talks and several hours to resume the fire. "OSCE with its latest statement wants to show the result of their work, but the resuming of negotiations could hardly bring some results," he said. Orinats Yerkir faction member Mher Shakhgeldyan stated that Armenian side should keep on insisting the implementation of Vienna and Petersburg agreements. "The peace talks could be renewed just and only reaching some results in respect to agreements," he stated, adding that the current position of Yerevan is correct.
To note, the Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries - Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States John Kerry, and Foreign Minister of France Jean-Marc Ayrault - issued a joint statement on Dec 8. The statement reads, "We call on Baku and Yerevan to honor the agreements reflected in the Joint Statements of the 16 May Summit in Vienna and the 20 June Summit in St. Petersburg. We welcome the sides' progress in implementing the exchange of data on missing persons under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. We urge the parties to remove all remaining obstacles to expanding the mission of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and to make progress on a proposal to establish an OSCE investigative mechanism. The proposals should be implemented together with the immediate resumption of negotiations on a settlement. We would like to reiterate our call to the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to demonstrate flexibility and to return to the negotiation table with the firm aim of moving toward a sustainable peace on the basis of the current working proposals. Unless progress can be made on negotiations, the prospects for renewed violence will only increase, and the parties will bear full responsibility."
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has already responded to that statement, saying: ""When Azerbaijan stubbornly refuses to implement the agreements reached in Vienna, St. Petersburg or elsewhere before, it undermines not just those agreements; it damages the peace process as a whole, since it contributes to eliminating the slightest hopes that anything agreed with Baku could ever be implemented. In the current circumstances of lack of trust and confidence the Co-Chair countries have to even more assertively pursue Azerbaijan to comply with its commitments. The implementation of the agreements in a good faith and without preconditions may open the door for starting to rebuild the trust".
To recall, the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia met in Saint Petersburg on June 20 2016 at the behest of Vladimir Putin. Reaching a settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was the subject of discussion at the meeting, which took place behind closed doors. Following the consultations, the presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan adopted a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to normalizing the situation on the line of contact and giving their approval to an increase in the number of OSCE observers working in the conflict zone. The joint statement also expresses the parties' commitment to putting in place the conditions required for steady progress in negotiations on a political settlement to the conflict. The presidents made a point of their regular contacts on Karabakh and agree to continue them in such format as addition to the efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs who were invited to the final stage of the meeting in St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the investigative mechanisms at the present stage of the settlement are irrelevant and the issue can be discussed after "withdrawal of Armenian troops from the NKR". He also stressed that the Office of the OSCE CiO Personal Representative can be expanded by no more than 12-13 people.