Thursday, October 9 2014

When organizing the meeting of presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, France as one of the OSCE MG co-chair states,  has been implementing its peacemaker's mission, Ambassador of France to Armenia, Henri Raynaud, told journalists today. 

He recalled that in May of the current year during his visit to the region President of France Francois Hollande offered presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to meet in Paris so that to fuel the negotiating process on Karabakh settlement and to achieve long-lasting peace on the basis of the three principles: territorial integrity, peoples' right for self-determination and non-use of force. These are the key principles, around which the talks will be conducted in Paris, Mr Reynaud said. At the same time, he is confident that time is needed for reconciliation of the parties to the conflict. 

However, this does not at all mean that we should give up and take no step towards settlement of the conflict as soon as possible, French ambassador concluded. 

Asked why the EU turns the blind eye to the radical actions by Azerbaijan and does not condemn escalation of the situation in the Karabakh conflict zone by Azerbaijan, Mr Reynaud replied that the EU through the OSCE MG condemned such actions and reiterated  for many times that the Karabakh conflict can be resolved only peacefully. 

For his part, Germany's Ambassador to Armenia, Reiner Morell, said that it is very much important that Paris initiates the next meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, since a progress in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is impossible without these talks. "And although mutually hostile statements are often heard regarding the Karabakh issue, there is a benefit because the created situation is managed to be maintained for twenty years," Mr Morel said and added that he pins great hopes on the Paris meeting of the presidents. 

To note, presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev are going to meet in Paris in November of the current year. The meeting was initiated by President of France Francois Hollande.