Armenian Law Makers: Resuming peace talks  on Artsakh possible only  after having implemented Vienna and Petersburg agreements.  

ArmInfo. Vaghram Baghdasaryan the Head of the ruling Republican Party faction, thinks that Artsakh peace talks could be resumed only after having implemented Vienna and Petersburg agreements.  He stated that during the briefing at  Parliamenton December 9, commenting the Karabakh-related statement of  OSCE MG co-chairs countries delegations heads  at Hamburg. 

 "We have to see the will of Baku to implement these agreements,  because only in that case the talks process could move on,' he state,  adding that the meeting of two countries' Presidents under  current  conditions will not be effective. The republican thinks also that  mediators should come out with addressed statements. "But they don't  do that now, because they are afraid to harm the peace talks  process," the politician said. Baghdasaryan stated also, that  currently the first priority for Armenia is the self determination of  Artsakh. " We never said the war is impossible, but I don't think  that Baku is ready to war," he mentioned. 

In his turn, the Prosperous Armenia faction head Mikael Melkumyan  stated that after the April war the matter was not the peace talks,  but the terms of resuming peace talks. "In particular, to create  tools to fetch out the cease fire violations. To our regret, we do  not possess  those, hence we have to secure the implementation of   agreements," he accentuated, adding that is impossible to resume  peace talks and several hours to resume the fire. "OSCE with its  latest statement wants to show the result of their work, but the  resuming of negotiations could hardly bring some results," he said.   Orinats Yerkir faction member Mher Shakhgeldyan stated that Armenian  side should keep on insisting the implementation of Vienna and  Petersburg agreements. "The peace talks could be renewed just and  only reaching some results in respect to agreements," he stated,  adding that the current position of Yerevan is correct. 

To note, the Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair  countries - Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov,  Secretary of State of the United States John Kerry, and Foreign  Minister of France Jean-Marc Ayrault - issued a joint statement on  Dec 8. The statement reads, "We call on Baku and Yerevan to honor the  agreements reflected in the Joint Statements of the 16 May Summit in  Vienna and the 20 June Summit in St. Petersburg.  We welcome the  sides' progress in implementing the exchange of data on missing  persons under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red  Cross.  We urge the parties to remove all remaining obstacles to  expanding the mission of the Personal Representative of the OSCE  Chairperson-in-Office and to make progress on a proposal to establish  an OSCE investigative mechanism.  The proposals should be implemented  together with the immediate resumption of negotiations on a  settlement.  We would like to reiterate our call to the leaders of  Armenia and Azerbaijan to demonstrate flexibility and to return to  the negotiation table with the firm aim of moving toward a  sustainable peace on the basis of the current working proposals.   Unless progress can be made on negotiations, the prospects for  renewed violence will only increase, and the parties will bear full  responsibility."

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has already responded to  that statement, saying: ""When Azerbaijan stubbornly refuses to  implement the agreements reached in Vienna, St. Petersburg or  elsewhere before, it undermines not just those agreements; it damages  the peace process as a whole, since it contributes to eliminating the  slightest hopes that anything agreed with Baku could ever be  implemented. In the current circumstances of lack of trust and  confidence the Co-Chair countries have to even more assertively  pursue Azerbaijan to comply with its commitments. The implementation  of the agreements in a good faith and without preconditions may open  the door for starting to rebuild the trust". 

To recall, the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia met in  Saint Petersburg on June 20 2016 at the behest of Vladimir Putin.   Reaching a settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was the  subject of discussion at the meeting, which took place behind closed  doors.  Following the consultations, the presidents of Russia,  Armenia and Azerbaijan adopted a joint statement reaffirming their  commitment to normalizing the situation on the line of contact and  giving their approval to an increase in the number of OSCE observers  working in the conflict zone. The joint statement also expresses the  parties' commitment to putting in place the conditions required for  steady progress in negotiations on a political settlement to the  conflict.  The presidents made a point of their regular contacts on  Karabakh and agree to continue them in such format as addition to the  efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs who were invited to the  final stage of the meeting in St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, Azerbaijani  President Ilham Aliyev said that the investigative mechanisms at the  present stage of the settlement are irrelevant and the issue can be  discussed after "withdrawal of Armenian troops from the NKR". He also  stressed that the Office of the OSCE CiO Personal Representative can  be expanded by no more than 12-13 people.