Lavrov Says the Settlement of Karabakh Conflict Will Take a Long Time

• 11.21.2017, 13:28
•  Region,  World,  NKR

"As a foreign minister, I have no information on a meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents to be held in December," Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian noted today in response to a Russian reporter’s question at a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Yerevan, Armenia, Panorama.am reports. 

The top Armenian official cited his statement made a week ago over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, saying ‘it is difficult to invent a bicycle’. "The key principles, elements of the [Karabakh] conflict settlement are already put on the negotiating table, there are working documents, some accumulated materials. We have been holding talks for quite a long time. Azerbaijan says we do not need to negotiate on the main principles. Despite Azerbaijan’s, to put it mildly, not very constructive stance, it is certainly necessary to continue the peace talks, since there is no alternative to them," Nalbandian remarked.

The official underlined Armenia is inclined to continue constructive workstyle featuring meetings on the presidential and ministerial levels, however no such thing is scheduled for the near future.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in his turn added during the recent news conference in Baku he announced all the elements to achieve a peace over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are available and summed up in documents. "These elements emerged as part of a single document. Thus, it is hard to single out one or two of them as a basis for reaching an agreement, since in that case we will not gain the expected outcome," he highlighted.

Mr. Lavrov also praised the positive attitude of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents towards the Geneva summit as an important fact to achieve progress in the conflict settlement. "We will make an analysis with our American and French partners to see where we have reached and try to take active efforts towards creating conditions for reaching settlement. I will not be too optimistic. This is a complicated issue, and our experience in conflict settlement comes to prove it will take a long time," he said.