News - Javier Colomina: Principles underlying Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process should not change at this stage

As you know, our policy is very clear. We support the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Javier Colomina, the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, said this in an interview with the Armenpress correspondent in Brussels. "We do not take sides between our partners, unless there is a violation of the principles and the main elements of the UN Charter that we are very attached to. Therefore, the message was very clear. We would like the peace talks to reconvene as soon as possible. We know there are different tracks, the bilateral track, the US track, the EU track. For us, the most important thing is the outcome at the end, is there lasting peace? Because that would be very important for the stability of the Caucasus," added the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia. And commenting on the aggressive and destructive statements from Azerbaijan—and which contain territorial ambitions towards Armenia, Colomina said: "Well, I have heard many concerns from your authorities about the statements from [Azerbaijani] President Aliyev in particular. For us, as I mentioned , the normalization of relations that lead to a lasting peace is a fundamental element today and we will be pushing for that, support whatever tracks brings the two nations to sign something like that. We are supporting the US; we are supporting the European Union. Actually, I was there [in Armenia] at the same time that Tovio Klaar, the Special representative of the European Union. “Therefore, I had the opportunity to speak with him at length and we are supporting the bilateral track. At the end it is for the two nations to decide how they move on, so we will be supportive of everything that at the end of the day brings as an outcome a lasting peace. We believe that the principles that were set at the beginning of the process —of course respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity—are fundamental. I actually tweeted at the end of my visit on that. It is one of the principles that we are very attached to, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Of course, we believe that together with that principles, delimitation of borders, the connectivity, the principles that were set at the beginning of the process should be part of that process. Unless, of course, the two sides decide to change those principles and have different principles or other principles or more. “However, the agreed principles should not change at this stage. Therefore, as I said, I heard a lot of concern. I do not think that statements help the process move forward, that we will continue to send the same message to the partners; they need to reconvene the talks as soon as possible. Actually, I would like to add that my trip was supposed to be a regional trip. In addition, we had already worked with both capitals to make it regional, but at the beginning of January, Azerbaijan decided to postpone the visit because of the presidential elections, so I couldn't actually convey the messages that I was going to convey. One of those messages was a very clear message that we expect you guys to reconvene the peace talks as soon as possible.”