The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group are to visit Armenia on 28 November, a visit that Baku has already said will be unproductive.
The co-chairs will meet Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan, News.am reports.
Following their last visit to the conflict region on 21-24 October, the co-chairs - Ambassadors Robert Bradtke of the USA, Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, and Bernard Fassier of France - called for an improved atmosphere in the peace talks, an increase in trust and the strengthening of the ceasefire.
Azerbaijan's deputy foreign minister, Araz Azimov, commented to the media in Baku on Thursday that the visit would be unproductive, Gun.Az reported.
“The co-chairs are expected to visit the region in late November, but I am not expecting any result from this visit. Armenia is misusing the situation, as in the past. Armenia takes a different path instead of responding to constructive proposals.”
Armenia's misuse of the occupied Azerbaijani territories shows that it is not interested in progress in the peace process, Azimov said.
"Azerbaijan has made it clear that it is willing to continue the negotiations. But if the discussions remain without result, it will be irrelevant. The co-chairs’ upcoming visit to the region next week doesn’t promise anything. There has been a standstill in the process since the Kazan meeting,” Azimov said, referring to the talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, mediated by the Russian president in Kazan in June.
“The OSCE foreign ministers will meet in Vilnius in early December. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will also attend the meeting. He is not planning to meet his Armenian counterpart, but it is technically easy to organize a ministerial meeting and they can meet during the conference. What's important is something else: why should they meet at all? So that we can hear the Armenian foreign minister’s position yet again? It's unlikely that Azerbaijan will accept a meeting with enthusiasm," Azimov said, according to APA.
Commenting on next year's 20th anniversary of the creation of the OSCE Minsk Group, Azimov said that it would be no cause for celebration.
“Over these 20 years the co-chairs have paid visits, been replaced. Things may depend on individuals to some extent. But first of all the three countries that have undertaken co-chairmanship of the Minsk Group must be willing to create a turning point. When these three countries were elected, most people hoped that they would be able to handle the mission, as they are leading states and play an important role in international issues. Moreover, Armenia depends on these three countries, is dependent on them in a number of aspects. The co-chairing states have enough power to influence Armenia. Despite all this, if there is no progress, we must seek its causes,” he said.
The conflict began in 1988 when Armenia made claims on the Azerbaijani territory of Karabakh. In a bitter war Armenian armed forces occupied a swathe of Azerbaijani land, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Despite a ceasefire in 1994, no long-term peace agreement has been reached.
The nub of the conflict remains unresolved - the competing claims of territorial integrity, which Azerbaijan insists takes precedence in the case of Karabakh, and self-determination, which Armenia wants to see for the Armenians of Karabakh.
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