Baku denies agreeing to expansion of OSCE Karabakh envoy's powers

A senior Azerbaijani official has said that Baku has not agreed to the expansion of powers of the personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk.


Following the 16 May Vienna talks on Nagorno-Karabakh between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents, the Russia and French foreign ministers and the US Sectary of State said in a statement that the sides had agreed to the expansion of the existing office of the personal representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office.


"There cannot be significant changes in Andrzej Kasprzyk's powers. What is said in the statement reflects the position of the Minsk Group. We have undertaken no obligations regarding this issue," ANS TV quoted Novruz Mammadov, deputy head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, as saying on 17 May.


Mammadov said that Azerbaijan had agreed to the strengthening of the cease-fire regime.


"During the Vienna meeting, we have agreed to the strengthening of the cease-fire regime for the continuation of future talks [on Karabakh]," Mammadov said.


He added that the main thing is that the cease-fire is observed, that no provocative actions are made in the conflict zone and that the talks to start on June, ANS TV said.


Baku and Yerevan are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh (Nagornyy Karabakh), which, along with seven surrounding districts, came under the control of ethnic Armenians in the early 1990s.


Dozens of Azeri and Armenian troops were killed in the April 2016 flare-up, which has been the worst escalation since the sides signed ceasefire deal in 1994.

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