Tuesday, July 12 2016 04:58

 The Vienna and St. Petersburg Summits were first and foremost aimed at stabilizing the situation in the conflict zone in the aftermaths of large-scale military offensive unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh in April, which was accompanied by the gross violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws," Armenian

Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said at the Eastern Partnership Informal Dialogue Meeting of the Foreign Ministers. 

The press office of the Armenian Foreign Ministry quotes Nalbandian as saying, "First of all, it is a necessity to implement what was particularly emphasized and agreed upon in the frameworks of the Summits in order to create conditions for the continuation of the negotiation process - the exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict, the full adherence to the 1994- 1995 trilateral ceasefire agreements, which do not have time limitations, the creation of mechanism for the investigation of ceasefire violations, the expansion of the team of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in- Office. Unfortunately, Azerbaijan after both Summits tries to ignore the reached agreements hindering the advancement of the peace process. Armenia will continue its efforts together with the Co-Chair countries aimed at exclusively peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict." 

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.