It is known that during the discussion “Assessments of the US policy in the Caucasus” held on November 16, the US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Philip Ricker, said that the OSCE Minsk format is currently not working and maybe the parties will come to a consensus that the time has come to stop it. And the main reason is that separate geopolitical poles act as separate mediators, and bilateral contacts between the parties have become frequent.
Artsakh Foreign Minister Davit Babayan states that they do not want to abandon this format because it establishes the status of Artsakh as a part of the conflict and negotiations.
What path are the de facto authorities of RA taking? They make formal statements about the importance of the Minsk Group format, but do nothing in fact to revive that format.
Azerbaijan has expressed a strong position that it will no longer work in the Minsk format and will only talk with “the people who live in Karabakh”, and the de facto authorities are abandoning the Artsakh issue, leaving Artsakh and Artsakh Armenians alone, facing to face with the aggressor.
It is noteworthy that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh stated in his interview today that official Artsakh is against Aliyev having a direct dialogue with Artsakh Armenians. The only acceptable format of negotiations for Artsakh is the presence of international mediators, which was ensured by the format of the Minsk Group. It is noteworthy that yesterday the newly appointed Minister of State of Artsakh, Ruben Vardanyan, expressed his readiness to go to direct negotiations with the Azerbaijani side. However, this statement, as well as R. Vardanyan’s urge to participate in the negotiations was countered by Babayan’s following statement. “We have a clear concept that has not been changed. We are ready for negotiations if the above-mentioned philosophy and format are preserved, regardless of who fills which position. Now Mr. Vardanyan is the state minister, we have a president who is the head of the country.”
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