ST PETERSBURG (Combined Sources)—Russian President Dmitry Medvedev brought his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian, together on Thursday for talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in St. Petersburg, the Russian Itar Tass news agency reported.
The talks took take place on the sidelines of an international economic forum in the Russian city scheduled for June 17-19. Sarkisian’s press office on Wednesday said the Armenian leader would be among the foreign dignitaries attending the forum.
The meeting focused on the “most crucial problems” prevent a settlement of the conflict, according to Medvedev’s press secretary, who spoke to reporters following the talks. “The sides noted the bridging of their positions on a number of contradictory provisions of the text in the basic principles of the Karabakh conflict settlement,” Natalya Timakova said.
She added that the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia “reiterated readiness to continue dialogue to finalize” an updated version of the basic principles of a Karabakh settlement put forward by the American, Russian and French mediators late last year.
The most recent talks between Sarkisian and Aliyev, also hosted by Medvedev, took place in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi last January. Contrary to some expectations, it did not yield a breakthrough in the long-running international efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Aliyev has since repeatedly accused Armenia of dragging feet over international mediators’ existing peace proposals which he says are largely acceptable to Baku. Speaking to Azerbaijani journalists last week, he claimed that Sarkisian promised to respond to the proposed Karabakh settlement in two weeks’ time at Sochi but has still not done so.
Aliyev warned that Baku will pull out of further negotiations with the Armenian side if the peace process remains deadlocked. He had also said he planned no fresh face-to-face meetings with Sarkisian “anytime soon.”
© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.
I don’t understand, what is there to negotiate? we want independance and Azeris are saying you can’t have it. So what are all these meetings for?
Another day,another international confernece and another public relations “photo op” meeting with Azerbaijan. Aliyev is entertaining.Hebehaves as if they won the war. Let him continue the rhetoric because as he rants and makes threats, Karabagh grows stronger in what the world calls”de facto”, butwhat we know isa new reality… the liberation of historic Artsakh. Stay strong, President Sarkissian , don’t blink with the pressure. Remember that itisthey who change the status quo and the only thing that thepowers dislike more thasn regional instability is a change to the status quo that will effect stability.
The Armenian president should protest the new rhetoric coming out of aliyev’s mouth and administration in regards to Armenia proper being part of azerbaijan. There is nothing to discuss with a country that has lost a war they started. Mr. Sargsyan, in these meeting are you accusing the azeri’s of GENOCIDE in Sumgait, Baku??? You are in a very strong position, just hold off these negotiations for the next 20 years, when the azeri’s run out of oil, then we can reclaim Baku our ancestral lands. These photo ops are useless, unless these presidents are accumulating airline miles for upgrades.
We should not ignore the very simple fact that Baku did manage easily to kill 4 young Armenian solders in duty still during the negation. Aliyev – a Turkish worm- at least tried by such a criminal action to execute maximal psychological pressure on Armenian side . The order to attack and kill as many Armenians as possible was issued the criminal rulers in Baku … what to do ?
I really wonder if Mr. Medvedev a fair and a just mediator have ever ask Azeri Ilham about returning Naxichevan land back to Armenia and stop running his mouth about Artsakh land. If not he must do so in order to have a stablized and peaceful region in that part of the world. Communist Stalin is the one who gave Armenian lands to others, and that has created all these problems. Before him was comunist Linin who also gave Gars and Ardahan lands to Turks – Azeri’s brothers. Mr. Medvedev should be reminded of the land distribution by Linin and Stalin during the soviet era,in order to make corrections of the past wrong treatments and mistakes that had been done by his predecessors, towards the Armenian people.