On 4 December, the 26th Meeting of the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council started in Slovakia’s capital of Bratislava.  40 foreign ministers from the OSCE’s 57 member states discussed the most pressing security challenges facing security in Europe and beyond. The leaders also outlined the way forward for the OSCE’s working agenda.

The Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov discussed the possibilities of future peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the side lines of the event. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, the ministers held broad discussions, discussed the current state of the negotiation process and options for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's peace settlement.  

According to the document, the Republic of Azerbaijan remains committed to the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by political means within the format of the OSCE Minsk Group, while the legal and political frameworks for the conflict settlement are laid down in U.N. Security Council resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993), as well as in the relevant documents and decisions of the OSCE. The document afterwards highlighted two major steps that need to be taken in order to achieve a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

"The first step shall be the elimination of the major consequences of the conflict, thus ensuring immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh region and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan, to be followed by the return of the forcibly displaced Azerbaijani population to their homes and properties in these territories in safety and dignity, opening of all communications in the region for mutual use and rehabilitation and economic development of these territories," it read. 

"The next stage of the settlement process shall be the elaboration and definition of the status of self- rule for the population of the Nagorno-Karabakh region within Azerbaijan, in accordance with the Constitution and legislation of Azerbaijan. The definition of the status shall take place in peaceful conditions through a legitimate process with direct, full and equal participation of the population of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, namely, the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities, and in their interaction with the Government of Azerbaijan exclusively in the framework of a lawful and democratic process," it stressed.

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan stressed the modest results registered in the side lines of arrangements on preparing the people to peace. In particular the minister spoke about the implementation of journalists’ exchange program (Caucasus Watch reported). In this pre-context the participants viewed the possibility of continuing such like direct engagement of journalists and societies. During the meeting Mnatsakanyan referred to his convening with the de-facto authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh and once again stressed the necessity of their involvement in the discussion of substantial issues of Karabakh conflict resolution.

The Russian MFA also stressed its position regarding the settlement of the conflict. “Russia thinks that the conflicts should be settled in the framework of the well-established formats,” the statement of the Russian MFA read which was also echoed in the OSCE statement.

Mammadyarov and Mnatsakanyan agreed to continue the negotiations and to hold another meeting early next year.