The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries will do their best to get the consent to the Madrid Principles from official Yerevan and Baku before October 14 (the date of a match between Armenian and Turkish national football teams), Head of the Hay Dat (Armenian Cause) Office in Yerevan Giro Manoyan told reporters today.

“Late this September the co-chairs are to present a revised version of the Madrid document, and the countries are to agree to or reject the principles within a few weeks,” Manoyan said.

According to him, the fact that Azerbaijan has not at least once stated its readiness to consent to Nagorno-Karabakh being not part of its territory is evidence that Baku will never agree to the Madrid Principles.

Manoyan believes neither side wants to consent to the Madrid Principles of the settlement, “nor does either of them want to be the first to say ‘no’.”

“The mediators are trying to meet Turkey’s demand — the Armenian-Turkish border will be reopened only after the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been settled – for the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Turkey to take place,” the expert said. He pointed out that “a rather hot political season is awaiting us” as official Yerevan must make a final appraisal of the Madrid Principles.