U.S. envoy hopes for new Sargsyan-Aliyev talks in near future

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. ambassador to Armenia John Heffern is hopeful that the next meeting between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will take place in the near future.

“The United States is a Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, which holds regular meetings with the sides to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. We hope that a new round of presidential talks will take place soon,” ambassador Heffern told a briefing in Yerevan.

He said the OSCE MG "strongly condemns the military rhetoric and violations of the ceasefire and extends condolences to those who suffers in incidents at the border and line of contact.”

“Peace talks are the only way to settle the conflict,” Heffern said, according to Panorama.am.

Meanwhile, U.S. envoy to Azerbaijan Richard Morningstar, who is completing his diplomatic mission, said recently that “tragic losses and any tensions occurring on the line of contact raise grave concern.”

“New attempts are needed for finding a settlement to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict once and for all,” he said in Baku.

In their July 23 statement, the OSCE MG Co-chairs expressed “their serious concern about the increase in tensions and violence, including the targeted killings of civilians, along the line of contact and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.” They urged the parties “to commit themselves to avoiding casualties and rejected the deliberate targeting of villages and the civilian population and called on the Foreign Ministers to defuse tensions and adhere to the terms of the ceasefire.”