Artsakh President Bako Sahakian and OSCE Chairman Ivica Dačić meet in Yerevan

STEPANAKERT—On June 3, Artsakh’s President Bako Sahakian met in Yerevan with the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, and Serbian Foreign Minister, Ivica Dačić.

A range of issues related to the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement and regional processes were discussed during the meeting.

President Sahakian noted that Stepanakert remains a proponent of peaceful settlement of the conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group and emphasized the need of restoring the full-fledged negotiation format, considering it among the most pivotal constituents of the process.

The President also outlined the highly destructive policy of Azerbaijan, qualifying Baku’s behavior as a threat to the maintenance of stability and peace in the region, an offence against international norms and principles.

Foreign Minister Karen Mirzoyan, personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and other officials were present at the meeting.

Later, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, at a separate press conference with Dačić in Yerevan, said that progress on Karabakh is possible if Azerbaijan adopts a more constructive position.

“Azerbaijan has so far demonstrated a non-constructive and unrealistic approach towards the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” Nalbandian said.

The comment comes after Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov declared yesterday that “Azerbaijan is ready for a breakthrough in the negotiations on the Karabakh conflict.”

“Azerbaijan’s non-constructive approach was last demonstrated at the Riga Summit, which had brought together the leaders of 28 EU member states and the Eastern Partnership countries. All these countries, excluding Azerbaijan, agreed to a formulation on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict that was included in the Riga Declaration. It was a general statement about the support of all the countries to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the famous five statements made by the leaders of the co-chairing countries. Azerbaijan protested this position, thus demonstrating that there has been no change in its stance on the issue,” Nalbandian said.