Sarkisian and Aliyev Meet in Geneva; Co-Chairs, Armenia, and Azerbaijan Release Joint Statement

Meeting Takes Place in a ‘Constructive Atmosphere’ According to Statement

GENEVA (A.W.)—The Presidents and Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Geneva on Oct. 16 under the auspices of the co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group.

(L to R) Ilham Aliyev and Serge Sarkisian (Photo: Press Service of the President of Armenia)

Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov (Russia), Stephane Visconti (France), and Andrew Schofer (U.S.), as well as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, also participated in the meeting, which took place in a “constructive atmosphere,” according to a joint statement released by the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the Minsk Group co-chairs.

“The Presidents agreed to take measures to intensify the negotiation process and to take additional steps to reduce tensions on the Line of Contact,” read a part of the statement.

The presidents and foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan meet with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and officials (Photo: Press Service of the President of Armenia)

During the meeting, the co-chairs expressed their satisfaction with the direct talks and said they remain ready to work with the sides on mediating a peacefully negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabagh (Artsakh) conflict.

The co-chairs also announced that as a next step they would organize working sessions with the foreign ministers in the near future.

Sarkisian and Aliyev also held a private meeting following the talks.

The presidents and foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan (Photo: Press Service of the President of Armenia)

Just two days before the Oct. 13 announcement of the meeting, Armenian Armed Forces serviceman private Chaplin Margaryan (b. 1998) was killed by Azerbaijani fire in the morning. According to the Armenian Ministry of Defense, the incident took place at a military unit in the northeast, along the Azerbaijani border.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry had described the Oct. 11 killing of the Armenian soldier as an act of provocation ahead of the meeting between Sarkisian and Aliyev.

The presidents and foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan meet with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and officials (Photo: Press Service of the President of Armenia)

“Ahead of a meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents, [Azeri President] Ilham Aliyev continues provocations,” ministry spokesperson Tigran Balayan said in a tweet. Earlier, President Sarkisian’s spokesperson, Vladimir Hakobyan, told Yerevan reporters that it is long known to all that the Azerbaijani authorities resort to provocations before high-level meetings “in an attempt to pollute the political environment.”

10 Comments

  1. look at those useless officials. these people are so full of themselves it is not funny. As for aliyev, you can actually see the deceit on his face. the rest are there to get paid their daily fees. useless organisation.

  2. The only fact that matters is that armenians are getting killed every day by one ofthe most vicious regime on earth, helped by Turkey.

    Alivev wil continue to play a double faced approach to the situation, to continue
    strengthening their military, to regain the whole territory by war, and should it happen and they lose,
    Armenia should no longer agree to a truce….

    Armenia should be careful not to secede any territory in advance.

  3. Those all diplomatic meetings are useless and baseless, I don’t go to any meeting with the enemy unless first of all they should stop firing with their snipers to our soldiers in the front lines.
    Second, respect the ceasefire agreement of 1994 accordingly.
    Arsakh has to take part in those meetings because the ceasefire agreement in 1994 was signed also by a representative from Artsakh.
    I am very sorry that all of you went to Geneva, you are just wasting your time.

  4. It’s clear that Azerbaijan and Turkey want to wipe Armenia from the map. We all know the issue is not Artsakh. Who is fooling who? How long will these international organizations have their heads in the sand and act as if the issue is only about Artsakh (self determination vs so called territorial integrity).

  5. Never trust the Turks. If Azerbaijan knew it could start a war and successfully steal more armenian lands and kill or remove more Armenians from their ancient homeland, they would DO IT TODAY! Turks are our grave enemies. Turks currently occupy major historic Armenian districts all stolen via genocide. How can they be ‘honest or a friend’? Azerbaijan leader ignores all these meeting agreements anyways. ONLY SOLUTION: Arm the army to the teeth, prepare for war always, and UNITE AS ONE ARMENIA, ARTSAKH AND DIASPORA is the answer.

    • That’s all true, but here’s the problem: Armenians of Artsakh it seems are not allowed to make their decisions and take appropriate actions against Azerbaijan due to commands being brought in from outside forces, most likely Russia, by way of Armenia. I still haven’t heard what the consequences were, are, or will be for April 2016. No condemnations of Azerbaijan from both the west and Russia tells us a lot, no one really gives a damn about us. In this regard, I believe Artsakh must make its own demands for justice against Azerbaijan, independent of Armenia’s conditions.

  6. The problem: Artsakh (Արցախ) is still in parentheses. No matter what they agree to, it will not make ANY difference. The good news: the fact that they stil owe everything they owed 100 years ago, plus interest. Nothing “they” say makes any difference yet, as far as we are concerned.

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