Mr John Kirby, Spokesperson for the US Department of State, at a daily press briefing, spoke of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and answered journalists’ questions, Tert.am informs.
Commenting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani presidential meeting in Vienna, Austria, on May 16, Mr Kirby said:
“Both presidents committed themselves to respect the ceasefire, to put in place important confidence-building measures, and to begin negotiations next month that can lead to a comprehensive settlement. They demonstrated what we believe to be political will to move beyond the status quo and to take steps that can benefit all the people in the region. And so as the Secretary made clear, the United States, for our part, will stand ready to assist them in that regard whatever they – in whatever way they can.
“So look, it was a positive meeting and a step in the right direction. And now everybody has to do the hard work of implementing the things that they committed to.”
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A journalist put the following question: “John, according to various sources – and I have Stratfor’s article in front of me – Armenia and Karabakh have been open to the idea of installing these gun detectors. Russia too has been receptive. Azerbaijan, though, has flatly rejected it, end of quote. Would you elaborate on this?”
“I haven’t seen that article so I’m not going to respond to everything you’re seeing there. I simply would point you back to the joint statement that was issued yesterday in which both presidents acknowledged a commitment to the ceasefire and to moving the process forward and to starting to have more discussions next month, which we think is a positive development,” Mr Kirby said.