A senior European Union diplomat on Thursday praised Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations held in recent months and expressed hope for progress towards the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“It is very good that there is a consistent process of meetings that seems to be going on,” Toivo Klaar, the EU’s special representative for the South Caucasus, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service in Yerevan.
“Of course, it’s not easy,” said Klaar. “This is a conflict that has very deep roots and we cannot expect solutions from one day to the next. But the important thing is that there are meetings, there are substantial discussions, and of course the EU is there to support this.”
“I personally hope that this process is a somehow a self-reinforcing mechanism and … that despite the difficulties of the last month we will actually see a sort of progress in the general situation,” he added.
The Karabakh conflict was high on the agenda of Klaar’s talks with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian held earlier in the day. According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Mnatsakanian briefed the EU envoy on his latest meeting with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov that took place in Washington on June 20.
The meeting mediated by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group followed an upsurge in ceasefire violations along the Karabakh “line of contact” which came after several months of relative calm on the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontlines. The mediators said they urged the parties to “observe the ceasefire strictly and refrain from any provocative action.”
Klaar said he discussed the escalation with Pashinian and Mnatsakanian. “Even though there are these lines of communication [between Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders,] of course in fragile situations such incidents can happen, such deaths can occur, and that means more needs to be done in terms of building confidence between the sides and reducing tensions even further,” he said. “I hope that the Washington meeting contributed to that.”
Klaar also reaffirmed the EU’s pledges to support financially a possible Armenian-Azerbaijani peace accord. “When we get to that point, to larger agreements where financial support is needed to implement them, I am sure that the EU will be there to support them,” he said.
Asked whether the two warring sides are still far from reaching that point, the envoy replied: “I honestly don’t know.”