Armenia Against Some Aspects of Madrid Principles: Yuri Merzlyakov

The process of talks over the Nagorno-Karabakh (NKR) conflict settlement is quite serious which necessitated this visit by the OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairs to the region, said OSCE Minsk Group Russian co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, during a March 28 meeting with NKR President Bako Sahakyan.

After a one-and-a-half-hour meeting with NKR officials, the OSCE Minsk Group mediators stated that the meeting was substantial. Merzlyakov said that currently they are in the process of coordinating the proposals presented by the co-chairs at the end of last year.

According to Merzlyakov, the Armenian side has already come out against some of the points in the renewed Madrid Principles.

“But we’re not complicating the situation, as just two years ago there was the same situation over the Madrid Principles when the Armenian side accepted [it], but, as it turns out now, not fully, while the Azerbaijani side didn’t accept it, and we worked long [and hard] to reach common ground,” said Merzlyakov, adding that except for four points, Armenia and Azerbaijan, in general, have reached an agreement over the renewed version of the Madrid Principles.

According to Radio Liberty, French co-chair Bernard Fassier excluded the possibility of solving the conflict through war.

“War cannot be an option, and we have often been saying this everywhere. We continue to think that this issue is impossible to solve through war. And if a war begins, what? The geography will not change, neither will the history, and the issue will be more complicated,” said Fassier.

Later today, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are expected to meet Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.