EU Special Representative on Karabakh negotiations: "EU is willing to help and move talks forward"

EU Special Representative on Karabakh talks

There is a positive trend, we can develop it, move the process forward. This opinion about the Armenian-Azerbaijani talks was expressed by the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Toivo Klaar, who is in Yerevan on an official visit.

He has already met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of the Security Council. From Yerevan the European diplomat will travel to Baku.

In an interview with Radio Azatutyun (Freedom), Special Representative Toivo Klaar spoke about the positive signals from Yerevan and Baku, the Brussels and Moscow formats of the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations, as well as the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh. In particular, he stated that the settlement of the conflict is impossible without taking into account the opinion of the Armenians living there.

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“Results are obvious”

From the capitals of Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to Klaar, mostly positive signals are coming. He stressed that the meeting of the leaders of the countries in Brussels, which took place a few weeks ago with the mediation of the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, “has produced certain results”.

In this regard, the diplomat recalled, in particular, the first meeting of the border commission on the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. It was planned back in April, but took place only after the Pashinyan-Aliyev-Michel meeting in Brussels. Immediately, Klaar stressed that the recent Moscow meeting of the Deputy Prime Ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and their Russian counterpart also took place after the talks in Brussels – moreover, after a pause of six months.

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“It is necessary to reach a comprehensive settlement”

Armenia positively assessed Toivo Klaar’s statement that NK Armenians should, in any case, be part of the conflict settlement:

“It is clear that the people living in Karabakh are fundamentally interested in achieving a comprehensive settlement. And I personally do not see how such an agreement can be reached without taking into account the opinions and points of view of these people”.

Klaar stressed that the statement of the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, after the recent talks in Brussels did not cover all the issues that need to be addressed.

The diplomat expressed this opinion in response to the remark that Michel’s statement spoke about the rights of the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, and not about the future status:

“It should be a comprehensive settlement. We all know how the conflict began, it must be finally closed. Michel didn’t touch on much in his statement. But the fact that we have always emphasized is that a comprehensive settlement of the conflict is needed, and we are working in this direction.”

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“EU wants to help the process”

As for the uncertainty of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, then, according to Toivo Klaar, at the moment the main thing is to advance the negotiation process, not to let it stall:

“The EU does not claim copyright on anything. We are interested in seeing progress and supporting it. I think this is what Charles Michel was able to achieve through his three meetings with the leaders [of Armenia and Azerbaijan], as well as joint negotiations with Presidents Macron and Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan. And that’s what we want to do.”

The diplomat recalled that in addition to the Brussels format, there is a Moscow one. The EU Special Representative welcomed the resumption of meetings of the Trilateral Commission of Deputy Prime Ministers within the Moscow format.

“It’s great, very good if we move in the right direction here. The sole interest of the European Union is to help this process and reach a lasting and comprehensive settlement.”

EU Special Representative’s statement on Karabakh talks