YEREVAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th September, 2018) The sides to the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region should make compromises in order for the situation to be settled, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, mediating the negotiations on the crisis resolution, said in a statement on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanyan met for talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York City. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of Russia, Stephane Visconti of France and Andrew Schofer of the United States) met separately and jointly with the two top diplomats over the past days. Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk also participated in the negotiations.
"The Co-Chairs and the Ministers discussed the situation in the region and sought clarification with respect to several recent statements and incidents of concern. The Co-Chairs expressed deep regret over the continuing and unnecessary loss of life. They cautioned the Ministers about the dangers of escalation, called on the parties to engage constructively in a positive atmosphere, and to avoid inflammatory rhetoric. The Co-Chairs underscored that a comprehensive settlement will require compromises on all sides," the statement read.
Mammadyarov and Mnatsakanyan, in their turn, reiterated the importance of taking steps to defuse tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh, according to the statement.
Earlier in the day, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that Mammadyarov and Mnatsakanyan had agreed to resume their talks on the conflict settlement in October. Moreover, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group had agreed that they would visit the region the next month, the ministry added.
Azerbaijan's Armenian-dominated region of Nagorno-Karabakh proclaimed its independence in 1991 which resulted in a military conflict in the area.
The OSCE has been mediating the talks on the status of the region since 1992.
Baku claims that the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) had occupied its territory, and insists on the preservation of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, while the interests of the self-proclaimed republic in the peace process are represented by Armenia, as NKR is not a part of the talks.
