YEREVAN. - The statement of OSCE Minsk Group largely refers to Azerbaijan, the secretary of ruling Republican party parliament group Eduard Sharmazanov told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

According to him, the specific point in the statement that urges the sides to agree upon fundamental principles of Karabakh conflict resolution is directed to Baku, since it was Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev who failed the agreement in Kazan.

“Meanwhile the Armenian side always affirms its readiness to act on the basis of Helsinki principles,” added Sharmazanov.

Moreover, Minsk Group co-chairs’ call is an indication to Baku that the military way of Karabakh conflict resolution is unacceptable. Sharmazanov added that the co-chairs should be more precise, otherwise Azerbaijani president might disrupt further talks.

“Time is right for co-chairs to undertake more intensive work with Azerbaijan, since the Armenian side always manifests constructive approach towards negotiations,” he said.

The MP emphasized that the positive thing in the statement is that the co-chairs use “sides of the conflict” expression without defining the sides.

“This means that under “sides” the mediators assume Nagorno-Karabakh as well. Without Stepanakert’s involvement in negotiations process, we should not expect any progress,” Sharmazanov stressed.

The statement of co-chairs reads:
“Although the sides did not reach final agreement on the Basic Principles at Kazan, progress was made. The outcome of Kazan, including confirmation by the sides that they will continue to seek a negotiated settlement, provides momentum that the parties should use to reach agreement on the Principles as soon as possible. The remaining differences should not prevent the sides from accepting the Basic Principles and moving on to the treaty-drafting phase of the peace process. As Presidents Medvedev, Sarkozy, and Obama remarked in their May 26 joint statement at Deauville, further delay only calls into question the commitment of the sides to reach an agreement.”