“The upcoming days will show whether Azerbaijan is ready to move ahead”
"We commend the desire and consistent efforts of the leaders of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries- Russia, the USA and France, in supporting the sides to bring their positions closer and move forward with the peaceful settlement of the conflict," Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said commenting on the statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement made by the presidents of the US, France and Russia during the G8 Summit in Canada.
"It is important that the statement, made on the sidelines of the G8 Summit in Canada, in making a reference to the elements proposed in connection with the L'Aquila statement from 10 July 2009, is re-endorsing those principles which had several times been proclaimed by Armenia as basic principles for the conflict settlement. These include: the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh must be determined by a legally-binding expression of will of the Nagorno-Karabakh people, which means a recognition to realize the right to self-determination by the people of Nagorno-Karabakh; there must be a permanent land linkage between Armenia and Artsakh; and international security guarantees must be ensured," Minister Nalbandian said.
"The elements of the Madrid proposals mentioned in the statement remind of the published principles of the Madrid document in connection with the L'Aquila statement. While, more than two years ago Armenia stated, that it accepted, recognized the Madrid document as a basis for negotiations.
The leaders of Co-Chair countries point out that in the negotiations based on the Madrid proposals of 2007 a significant step, yet another phase was particularly registered during the meeting held exactly 10 days ago in Saint Petersburg, where the sides concluded what they had achieved up until now as a result of meetings and agreed to continue the negotiations on this basis.
The upcoming days will show whether Azerbaijan is ready to move by that route or whether it would continue its bellicose stance attempting to fail the negotiation process through new provocations and unconstructive steps," the Armenian Foreign Minister concluded.
Recall that the presidents of the US, France and Russia said in their joint statement: "We welcome as a significant step the recognition by both sides that a lasting settlement must be based upon the Helsinki Principles and the elements that we proposed in connection with our statement at the L'Aquila Summit of the Eight on July 10, 2009, relating to: the return of the occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh guaranteeing security and self-governance, a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh; final status of Nagorno-Karabakh to be determined in the future by a legally-binding expression of will, the right of all internally-displaced persons and refugees to return, and international security guarantees, including a peacekeeping operation.
Now the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan need to take the next step and complete the work on the Basic Principles to enable the drafting of a peace agreement to begin. We instruct our Ministers and Co-Chairs to work intensively to assist the two sides to overcome their differences in preparation for a joint meeting in Almaty on the margins of OSCE Informal Ministerial."
