168 Zham: Minsk Group's call to avoid engineering activities along Artsakh frotnline 'belated move' – presidential spokesperson

^{© Photo: Sputnik Armenia}

The OSCE Minsk Group's recent call upon Armenia and Azerbaijan to refrain from engineering activities along the Line of Contact is now a belated move, according to David Babayan, a spokesperson for the president of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic.

In an interview with the paper, Babayan commented upon the  official statement released after the Washington summit between Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov. 

Asked why the latest round of talks did not address the 2016 St. Petersburg and Vienna arrangements and whether such a failure could pave the way for Azerbaijan to expand the framework of its activity, the spokesperson attributed it to Azerbaijan's behavor. "I think it is the result of Azerbaijan's behavior given that those arrangements contain certain steps whose implementation rests with Azerbaijan but for which that country isn't absolutely ready," he explained.

"Azerbaijan, by definition, obstructs the realization of any tangible step to allow for exercising control to identify the [side] responsible for breaching the border ceasefire. And the Minsk Group, understandably, is unwilling to complicate the situation further. All they want is to observe the ceasefire regime, peace and stability, leaving the difficult and important arrangements to the future. All this, certainly, is a great opportunity for Azerbaijan, implying engineering activities and different steps ..."  

According to Babayan, the kind of statement, putting the main emphasis on stability and peace, was not absolutely unexpected in the light of the recent developments.

The spokesperson also hailed the co-chairs' priority focus on the meetings, considering it a very important moment in terms of making the negotiations ongoing.

Asked to comment upon the Minsk Group's welcoming attitude to the direct contacts between the Armenian  and Azerbaijani leaders and call for using the dialogues as a kind of tool to reduce the frontline tensions, Babayan agreed that the move is largely important, and significant "both technically and politically."

"It has a political signiticance in the sense that a direct contact implies also certain obligations in terms of respecting the ceasefire regime. Technically, if there is anything to improve, it will enable [the sides] to get in touch with one another immediately. Anyway, Azerbaijan is the kind of country from which we can expect absolutely anything – even at the most unpredictable and unexpected moments," the spokesperson said.