Artsakh’s presidential spokesman David Babayan
YEREVAN (Tert)—In an interview with Tert.am, a spokesperson for the president of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic commented on the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ recent visit to the South Caucasus and their meeting with officials in the second Armenian republic.
David Babayan said that the talks focused mainly on the current situation along the line of contact.
“That’s probably the most important and the most realistic point, as all the rest are a matter of future. The main emphasis was put on the possible mechanisms that could be elaborated and enforced to more effectively fix the violations; also, accountability mechanisms [were considered]. That means that the side responsible for violations must incur liability measures. [The mediators] at least have to state that some way or another instead of putting an equal sign by saying that both sides fire gunshots, violating the ceasefire,” Babayan explained.
Babayan added that the Armenian side is looking for specific statements, “because we see there are very important factors for peace and stability maintenance”.
“The point is that Azerbaijan rejects all kinds of proposals. We proposed, for instance, withdrawing snipers [from the frontline], but that wasn’t accepted. We also proposed ruling out shootings on the festive days and at weekends, as well as on religious, national and international holidays; but that was rejected too. What’s even worse, they have now started using heavy weapons,” Babayan added.
In his words, the mediators understand the situation well but still avoid being specific. “I think this approach is exhausting itself,” he noted.
When asked about the mediators’ general attitude to the Armenian side’s expectations, Babayan said he knows that they had reacted very positively and constructively to the proposal for being specific. But he admitted that the plan would be very difficult to realize in light of Azerbaijan’s persistent efforts to kill any initiatives promising peace.
“No sensible and normal person can reject the idea. So they accept the proposal in quite a normal way; it remains to be seen how the idea will be translated into action,” he added.
Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan took to Twitter to comment on the inability to identify ceasfire violators.
“Statements of mediators on inability to identify the one responsible for ceasefire violations encourages new provocations by violator”, Kocharyan wrote, referring to the Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ statement released today.
Source: Asbarez
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