Armenian Foreign Ministry states absence of negotiations on Karabakh conflict settlement
YEREVAN. Nov 6 (Interfax) - Negotiations on the status of Nagorny Karabakh and the settlement of the Karabakh conflict are not being conducted, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said.
"Negotiations on the status of Karabakh are not being conducted today. There are no negotiations on the issue of conflict settlement, either, because relevant conditions need to be created for such negotiations," Kocharyan told reporters on Thursday.
The persisting level of tensions on the Karabakh and Azeri troops contact line proves once again that all agreements on Karabakh reached at the summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg need to be fulfilled, he said.
"If the negotiations resume, they will be on the Madrid document, which Armenia and Azerbaijan have adopted as a foundation of the negotiations," he said.
Kocharyan also said Armenia can never conduct negotiations instead of Karabakh.
"And the co-chairs understand that very well. [Russian co-chair o the OSCE Minsk Group Igor] Popov has recently said that it s impossible to achieve settlement without Karabakh's involvement. Armenia insists on Karabakh's involvement in the negotiations at this stage. We always speak about that. Progress in the negotiations is impossible without Karabakh's participation," Kocharyan said.