EU ENVOY DISCUSSES KARABAKH CONFLICT IN YEREVAN

Armenialiberty.org

Nov 28 2011

A visiting European Union official held a series of meetings with
senior officials in Yerevan on Monday to discuss a broad range of
issues, including the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The visit by EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the
crisis in Georgia Philippe Lefort comes amid heightened tensions in
the region disputed by local ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijan.

Violations of the 1994 ceasefire have increased dramatically in the
recent period, with both sides blaming each other for the continuing
loss of life.

Azerbaijan reported another death of its soldier near Karabakh as
recently as last weekend, while Armenia said the previous weekend it
had lost two servicemen in what the Karabakh military described as
sniper fire from Azerbaijani army positions.

Apart from discussed issues pertaining to the ongoing EU-Armenia
relations, at their meeting Lefort and Armenian Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian reportedly dwelled on the current stage of the
Karabakh settlement. Issues concerning confidence-building measures
were reportedly high on the agenda of their meeting.

“In this sense the EU special representative’s attention was drawn
to the anti-Armenian and racist propaganda being carried out in
Azerbaijan at the state level,” the Armenian Foreign Ministry said
in a press release.

The conflict in Karabakh was also discussed during Lefort’s meetings
with Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and Defense Minister Seyran
Ohanian.

The Armenian Defense Ministry quoted the European official as saying
that “the European Union does not want to see a new war in the South
Caucasus.”

Meanwhile, the troika of the OSCE Minsk Group, the main international
format brokering a solution to the protracted conflict, arrived in
Yerevan on Monday as part of a fresh tour of the region.

The United States, Russian and French diplomats co-chairing the Group
held a meeting with Foreign Minister Nalbandian and were scheduled
to meet with President Sarkisian before setting off to the conflict
zone for conducting another monitoring of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
“line of contact” near Karabakh on Tuesday.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress