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On the whole, the statement issued by the Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Dublin and the accentuations in the speech of Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian have common points, political scientist, deputy director of Caucasus Institute Sergey Minasyan told Panorama.am in an interview. 

According to him, the importance of Madrid Principles as a basis for further negotiations has always been highlighted in statements. At least during the last decade, Armenia, unlike Azerbaijan, has always been ready to accept Madrid Principles as an initial variant.

“The approaches of the Armenian Foreign Minister and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs also coincide in unacceptability of use of force and threat of force. Military resolution of the conflict is unacceptable both for Armenia and the Co-Chairs. This similarity in the approaches of the Armenian side and the OSCE is more than obvious,” Minasyan stressed.

Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Minister Delegate for European Affairs of France Bernard Cazeneuve issued a statement on December 6, which said, in part, "We regret that the expectations of more rapid progress in the peace process, which were raised by the Joint Statement of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the President of the Russian Federation at Sochi on January 23, 2012, were not met. Instead, the parties have too often sought one-sided advantage in the negotiation process, rather than seeking to find agreement, based upon mutual understanding. While recognizing the decrease in serious incidents along the Line of Contact and the border in recent months, we remind the parties of the need to continue to respect the ceasefire of 1994, and that the use of military force will not resolve the conflict. We urge the parties to refrain from actions and statements that foster feelings of enmity among their populations and have raised tensions in recent months. The leaders of the sides must prepare their populations for the day when they will live again as neighbors, not enemies, with full respect for each other's culture, history, and traditions.

"We call upon the parties to demonstrate a greater sense of urgency in the peace process and to work with the Co-Chairs to give full and careful consideration to ideas presented by the Co-Chairs during their trip to the region in November. We welcome the readiness of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia to meet jointly with the Co-Chairs early in 2013 to continue these discussions. Our countries continue to stand ready to do whatever we can to assist the parties, but the responsibility for putting an end to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains with them."