Sargsyan: Armenian side has never refused any meetings on Karabakh problem settlement  

ArmInfo. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan expresses his willingness to hold a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev if it can be helpful to the peace process. 

In an interview with Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today) director general Dmitry Kiselyov, Sargsyan says, "We have never refused any meeting, be it at the level of Presidents, Foreign Ministers or even at a working level. But we have always campaigned for useful meetings and progress. What is the good of the meetings if the arrangements reached at those meetings are not implemented?"     

He notes that the Armenian side is ready to sign an agreement on creation of investigative mechanisms even today or tomorrow. "We want both the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the international community to know for certain who violates the ceasefire," Sargsyan says. 

To note, on May 16, 2016, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the  Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United  States of America John Kerry, and State Secretary for European  Affairs of France Harlem Desir, representing the co-chair countries  of the OSCE Minsk Group, met with President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan  and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to advance a peaceful  resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. They reiterated that  there can be no military solution to the conflict. The Co- Chairs  insisted on the importance of respecting the 1994 and 1995 ceasefire  agreements. The Presidents reiterated their commitment to the  ceasefire and the peaceful settlement of the conflict. To reduce the  risk of further violence, they agreed to finalize in the shortest  possible time an OSCE investigative mechanism.  The Presidents also  agreed to the expansion of the existing Office of the Personal  Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in Office. Finally, they  agreed to continue the exchange of data on missing persons under the  auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to  which the Presidents committed during the Paris summit of October  2014. The Presidents agreed on a next round of talks, to be held in  June at a place to be mutually agreed, with an aim to resuming  negotiations on a comprehensive settlement.

On June 20 2016, the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia met  in Saint Petersburg 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. Following the meetings in Vienna and St.  Petersburg, France expressed willingness to host the next meeting on  Karabakh in August 2016, but no meeting was organized.