NKR President Spokesman: Stepanakert has little expectations from Azerbaijan to support installation of investigative mechanisms

YEREVAN, MAY 17, ARMENPRESS. The NKR President Spokesman Davit Babayan says the meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan has a positive impact on the situation in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone. “The meeting was useful and inspired optimism. We give importance to the Vienna meeting after the war unleashed by Azerbaijan. The negotiation process went into a coma, and this meeting was the first attempt to revive it”, Babayan stated.

According to him, the statements by the participants of the meeting, the summarizing comments of the high-ranking diplomats enable to suppose that there are positive signs.

He added that the calls of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chaining countries to strictly maintain the ceasefire mean that the international community does not accept the actions which violate the agreements and are directed to change the military-political balance. “The Nagorno Karabakh also signed that document. Making reference to these documents means that the international community recognizes the Nagorno Karabakh as a party and admits that the Nagorno Karabakh should have an immediate participation in the implementation of the agreements, as well as in those over which agreements will be reached”, Babayan stated.

Davit Babayan highlighted the importance of the installation of investigative mechanisms for incidents in the line of contact. “It is impossible to move forward without it. The mechanisms will enable to fix the ceasefire violations, when and where they occurred and who is the guilty”, Babayan said.

At the same time, he noted that the process of installation of mechanisms cannot be done quickly. He says long time is needed for that. “It is clear that this process cannot be implemented without the direct participation of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. The development and installation works of the investigative mechanisms are comprised of many stages with the involvement of several structures of Armenia, the NKR and Azerbaijan”, Babayan added.

However, people of Stepanakert are not sure that Azerbaijan will support the implementation of this process. “Even if Azerbaijan will support it at the official level, it will practically be against it. The evidence of this are the intensive fires by the Azerbaijani side during the meeting of the Presidents in Vienna which resulted in the death of one of our soldiers”, Davit Babayan concluded.