EU envoy meets NKR Minister. Baku says meeting could contribute to dialogue.

The EU Special Representative for South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, Herbert Salber, on Tuesday (10 February) met with the Foreign Minister of the self--declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Karen Mirzoyan. The meeting was held in Yerevan.

According to the website of the NKR Foreign Ministry during the meeting, "the sides exchanged views on the possibilities and prospects of cooperation between the EU and Artsakh. Karen Mirzoyan stressed the importance of ensuring the EU representatives' unimpeded access to Artsakh and invited Herbert Salber to visit the NKR in the framework of his mandate to get familiarized with the existing realities on the ground. Issues related to the process of peaceful settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh were also touched upon. In this context, the sides stressed the importance of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen's efforts and the need to support them."

Speaking later in Yerevan, Ambassador Salber was quoted by Armenian media as saying that this was his first official meeting with NKR representatives and he hoped that the dialogue will continue.

The meeting between the EU Special Representative and the representative of the self declared Nagorn-Karabakh Republic was also positively evaluated in Baku"The Azerbaijani side repeatedly stressed that the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan Republic should be in contact. The European Union can play a role in promoting these contacts," The Azerbaijani news agency APA quoted the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev, as saying that the European Union could play a part in bringing together Armenians and Azerbaijanis from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Hajiyev told APA that "Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan are also Azerbaijani citizens. As part of the visit to Azerbaijan in October 2014, the delegation led by EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Herbert Salber also met with members of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh region and listened to their opinions on the conflict settlement".

The spokesperson of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry also said that the Azerbaijani Government had been informed ahead of the meeting between Salber and Mirzoyan.


source: commonspace.eu 

photo: The meeting between Ambassador Herbert Salber, the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Foreign Minister of the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic held in Yerevan on Tuesday, 10 February 2015 (Picture courtesy of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

 

 

Related articles

Editor's choice
News
Key European countries back Denmark in the face of Trump's continuing insistence on taking over Greenland

Key European countries back Denmark in the face of Trump's continuing insistence on taking over Greenland

 Six major European countries have declared their support to Denmark following renewed insistence by the US that it must have control over Greenland. "Greenland belongs to its people, and only Denmark and Greenland can decide on matters concerning their relations," said the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain, in a joint statement, issued on Tuesday (6 January), together with Denmark. On Sunday, Donald Trump said the US "needed" Greenland - a semi-autonomous region of fellow Nato member Denmark - for security reasons. He has refused to rule out the use of force to take control of the territory, and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned on Monday that an attack by the US would spell the end of Nato. The issue of Greenland's future resurfaced in the wake of the US military intervention in Venezuela, during which elite troops went in to seize the country's President Nicolás Maduro and take him to face drugs and weapons charges in New York. Following the raid, Trump said the US would "run" Venezuela for an unspecified period of time. He also said the US was returning to an 1823 policy of US supremacy in its sphere of influence in the Western hemisphere - and he warned a number of countries the US could turn its attention to them. The US military raid in Venezuela has reignited fears that the US may consider using force to secure control of Greenland. A day after the raid, Katie Miller - the wife of one of Trump's senior aides - posted on social media a map of Greenland in the colours of the American flag, alongside the word "SOON". On Monday, her husband Stephen Miller said it was "the formal position of the US government that Greenland should be part of the US". In an interview with CNN, he also said the US "is the power of Nato. For the US to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend Nato and Nato interests, obviously Greenland should be part of the US." Asked repeatedly whether the US would rule out using force to annex it, Miller responded: "Nobody's going to fight the US over the future of Greenland." Stressing they were as keen as the US in Arctic security, the seven European signatories of Tuesday's joint statement said this must be achieved by Nato allies, including the US "collectively" - whilst "upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders". Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed the statement and called for "respectful dialogue". "The dialogue must take place with respect for the fact that Greenland's status is rooted in international law and the principle of territorial integrity," Nielsen said. Trump has claimed that making Greenland part of the US would serve American security interests due to its strategic location and its abundance of minerals critical to high-tech sectors. Greenland, which has a population of 57,000 people, has had extensive self-government since 1979, though defence and foreign policy remain in Danish hands. While most Greenlanders favour eventual independence from Denmark, opinion polls show overwhelming opposition to becoming part of the US.

Popular