Francois-Philippe Champagne – Canadian Foreign Minister spoke on the phone with Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, as a result of which he wrote on his Twitter that Canada is not going to interfere in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan .
Champagne also said that Canada welcomes the humanitarian truce in Nagorno-Karabakh and called on outside parties not to take part in the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“I just talked with Mnatsakanyan. Canada welcomes the humanitarian truce in Nagorno-Karabakh. It must be respected in order to prevent the misfortunes of citizens. We call on external parties not to interfere in the situation and support the creation of a verification mechanism by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs,” the Canadian Foreign Minister told The Eastern Herald in a press meet.
Armenian President Armen Sarkissian did not rule out that Yerevan nevertheless recognizes the independence of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In his words, this did not happen over 30 years, because Armenia did not want to complicate the negotiation process with Azerbaijan.
The President recalled that the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR voted to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union. But in 1994, when Baku and Yerevan agreed on an armistice, the process was “suspended” so as not to “complicate” the work of the OSCE Minsk Group and the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan on a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.
It should be reminded that against the background of the aggravation of the military confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the issue of recognizing the independence of the NKR is on the government’s agenda.
