Return of territories and status of Karabakh: negotiations underway (video)
Return of territories and determination of Karabakh’s status- at the moment the Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations are proceeding over these principles within the frames of the OSCE Minsk Group, said Igor Popov, OSCE Minsk Group co-chair of Russia, today during the press conference in Yerevan. He says that these principles are also included in the offers of the Foreign Minister of Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov. “Mainly three principles are discussed- non-use of weapons, determination of Karabakh’s status and return of territories,” noted Russian Co-chair. Igor Popov states that there are also several other important elements on the negotiations table, which have been decided by the sides, “They are return of refugees, specification of Armenia-Artsakh corridor’s status, and deployment of peacekeepers. After clarification of these issues peace document will be signed,” In reply to the question how the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs assess the cases of vandalism carried out by the Azerbaijani soldiers during the second war in Karabakh, U.S. Co-Chair James Warlick said, “We are much concerned about cases of human rights violations. We saw those photos, videos, and asked the Red Cross to clarify what had happened. Those reports are in the center of our attention.” Co-chair Igor Popov notes that the Nagorno-Karabakh must return to the negotiations table, especially, that formerly it participated in the negotiations. He says that if a framework agreement is signed before a peace agreement, it can accelerate the resolution process. Does the OSCE Minsk Group know which side initiated the military action during April war? French Co-Chair Pierre Andrie states that that issue is not within the mediators’ mandate, “We don’t deal with that issue. As for the question on introduction of investigation mechanism- it will be a part of our work,” he said. The Co-chairs also spoke about the issue of Turkey’s participation in this format of negotiations. James Warlick noted, “We don’t expect any change in this issue. When we were in Vienna, we made a statement addressed to the sides for holding ceasefire regime. Turkey joined this statement and signed the document.” “It is necessary to solve the issue of return of the bodies of deceased soldiers in a short period of time. At present the International Committee of the Red Cross deals with it and the office of Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, is coordinating the work,” noted Igor Popov.
