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Minsk Group co-Chair meet civil society representatives in Stepanakert. NGOs call for more involvement in the peace process.

Minsk Group co-Chair meet civil society representatives in Stepanakert. NGOs call for more involvement in the peace process.

19 December 2013

The French and American co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Process, Ambassadors Faure and Warlick, on Wednesday met with representatives of civil society in Nagorno-Karabakh during a meeting at the Stepanakert Press Club.

The Armenian News Agency, Mediamax quoting the Stepanakert Press Club, reported that during the meeting the diplomats shared their views on the current stage of negotiations aimed at achieving a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The report added that " the representatives of Karabakh NGOs presented the need for changing the methodology and philosophy of the settlement. Special attention was paid to the development of the connection between Track-I and Track-II diplomacy as well as search for mechanisms and effective combination and  involvement of broader society layers in the peace process."

Commonspace.eu political editor said that 'these kind of meetings are very much welcomed by civil society and the co-Chair diplomats seem to have learnt from previous experience about the need to keep different stakeholders in the picture about developments. For this to work the co-chair will need to make this a much more systematic process, and they need to be sure that they are talking with all relevant stakeholders on both sides of the conflict divide. This will not be easy. it will be time consuming, and there will no doubt be provocations aimed at undermining this dialogue, but the co-Chair need to stay the course and not retire back to their shell at the first sign of criticism or negative comment. This is one of many bridges that need to be crossed if the Karabakh conflict is ever going to be resolved."

source: commonspace.eu with Mediamax.

Photo: Ambassador Faure of Frabnce and Ambassador Warlick of the US at the Stepanakert Press Club on 18 December 2013. (Picture courtesy of Mediamax/Stepanakert Press Club)

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