The five-sided meeting in Almaty was useful though Azerbaijan’s unconstructive position did not allow a joint statement to be made, RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian stated following the meeting.

Yesterday the OSCE MG Co-Chairing countries represented by RF Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Bernard Kouchner and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg issued a statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. "First, in their statement the representatives of the OSCE MG co-chairing countries refer to a joint statement of December 1, 2009, which indicates the three principles of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: nonuse of force or threat of force, peoples’ right to self-determination and territorial integrity," the Minister said.

In their statement, the heads of the delegations refer to two statements by the Russia, French and U.S. Presidents – in l'Aquila in 2009 and in Muskoka this year.

"Both the statements lay down the principles of settling the conflict," Nalbandian said.

The Minister emphasized that the statement indicates the unacceptability of superiority of any of the principles over the others, as well as of a selective approach to them. “The co-chairing countries clearly stated that was an unconstructive approach. There can be no discrimination between the principles or selective approach. All the principles were formulated as a single whole,” Nalbandian said.

The statement also points out the need for steps to strengthen the ceasefire for necessary conditions for further negotiations to be created. Over the recent years Azerbaijan has refused to take such steps, said the Minister.

The statement also says about the provocation organized the Azerbaijan on July 18, as well as about other actions by Azerbaijan, Nalbandian said. Everyone is well aware of which side is in question, as the statement says about provocative statements exacerbating the situation, the Minister said.