Date of meeting between Azerbaijani, Armenian FM revealed

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Acting Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan will hold a meeting mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (Igor Popov - Russian Federation, Stefan Visconti France and Andrew Schaefer - U.S.) on December 5.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Acting Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan will hold a meeting mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group cochairs (Igor Popov - Russian Federation, Stefan Visconti - France and Andrew Schaefer - U.S.) on December 5.

The meeting will be held on the sidelines of the 25th OSCE Ministerial Council in Milan, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported on December 3. "Personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk will also take part in the meeting. The meeting will discuss the negotiation process to resolve the ArmenianAzerbaijani conflict," the message said.

In the meantime, Moscow announced about Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's plans to hold a series of bilateral meetings on the Karabakh issue that is more probably to take place after the meeting between Mammadyarov and Mnatsakanyan.

The sides in the talks have not publicized for now any specific step or proposal for discussion in Milan, but there is high skepticism over possible breakthrough.

For instance Armenia which is in anticipation of extraordinary parliamentary elections is mostly focused on the election campaign which is accompanied by a harsh rivlary between political forces for seats in the future parliament. In these conditions, any fateful or far-reaching decisions on Karabakh conflict seems absurd.

At the same time, Nikol Pashinyan, whose chances are assessed high to win the upcoming parliamentary elections on December 9, has repeatedly stated his intention to make a substantial amendment in the negotiation process. He himself and his supporters defend urge that Karabakh "authorities", who actually rule in the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, "must be returned to the negotiating table".

Azerbaijan earlier expressed its categorical disagreement with this position of Armenia. Moreover, Azerbaijan has already offered the maximum possible concessions to the Armenian side, in particular, the country is ready to provide autonomy, but within the territory of Azerbaijan.

Peace diplomacy over Nagorno-Karabakh entered a period of stagnation after the "velvet" revolution began in Armenia and this pause is likely to continue for some time. In particular, until a full-fledged government is formed in Yerevan, where both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs finally get rid of the prefix “acting” at the beginning of their positions…