What will be the steps of the Armenian side in the Karabakh peace process?
The United States Secretary of State John Kerry admitted that there are still no conditions for the Nagorno-Karabakh frozen conflict settlement. John Kerry’s remarks came during the speech at the Atlantic and Aspen Institute in Washington, where he said, “Today, there are frozen conflicts in the world, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, between Armenia and Azerbaijan, where currently the possibility for settlement is not being considered, first of all, because the leaders are not ready for it, because there is tension between the parties. These conflicts are complex conflicts but the solution is there if the people adopt certain complex solutions. I think that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is also included in this category. People must be ready to make concrete complex solutions.”
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries have always acted with encouraging statements, which imply that the peace process should be continued, they have constantly emphasized that the sides are ready to continue the negotiations. Official Yerevan has always been in favor of peace talks and has never questioned the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group format. Things are different in the case of Azerbaijan.
Official Baku has always questioned the effectiveness of the OSCE Minsk Group format, and has come up with maximalist statements, propaganda of war, and eventually, Aliyev committed aggression in April saying that the peace talk settlement is not included on the agenda of Baku.
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Months after the four-day war, the statement by official Washington today that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict solution is not visible in fact is important in the sense that it is advantageous to the official Yerevan. The Armenian side should seek to introduce its new approaches and achieve results.
The solution to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is currently not possible because Aliyev’s policy in a course of years has led to a situation where it is obvious for many people that Azerbaijan is simply unable to coexist peacefully with the people of Nagorno-Karabakh for one simple reason that the degree of hatred to Armenians in this country has reached its peak.
In addition, have the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries, or the entire international community ever heard of the word “concessions” from the Azerbaijani authorities? Now, the April war made the concession impossible for the Armenian side. Washington realizes this, and Kerry’s statement must also be perceived in this connotation.
Certainly, encouraging statements continue to sound from the US. In a briefing held in Washington, Elizabeth Trudeau, Head of Press Office of the Department of State, recently stated, “We continue to engage actively with the sides. You know we’re co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. Our longstanding policy shared by the Minsk Group co-chairs is that a just settlement must be based on international law, which includes the Helsinki Final Act, the principle of non-use of force or the threat of force, territorial integrity, and self-determination.” In the briefing, Elizabeth Trudeau touched upon the topic of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict responding to the question of correspondent of Washington of official AzerTag agency of Azerbaijan, who evidently showed his discontent with John Kerry’s earlier statement about why John Kerry announced that “the leaders of the two countries are not ready for the conflict solution.”
Now, the mediators are limited to, hoping that it would be possible to organize the Sargsyan-Aliyev meeting. Very recently, in an interview with the Russian “Novosti” news agency, the OSCE Minsk Group US Co-Chair James Warlick has said, “We hope that the co-chairs will agree to hold the next meeting. At this moment, the day and venue are not scheduled.” As Warlick said, the Co-Chairs continue to work with the parties to conflict to resolve it, “In the end of the month, during our visit to the region, we plan to have meetings with the parties to discussion respective matters.” Warlick has also mentioned in his microblog in Twitter that the US is committed to the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, “As a mediator, the United States like before is loyal to the negotiation process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and will actively work with the OSCE co-chairs to reach a solution acceptable to the parties to the conflict.”
Hence, late this year, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs are planning to visit the region, perhaps, to clarify issues related to the organization of the meeting of the presidents.
A few days ago, official Paris again expressed readiness to organize the meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Ambassador of France to Azerbaijan, Aurelia Bouchez, recently, mentioned that Paris can arrange the meeting between Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev, “France has expressed its position. We can accept the presidents. No date has yet been fixed.”
Irrespective of the conditions for the organization of the new meeting, it is clear that the Karabakh settlement process is currently in quite a complex round in terms of moving ahead. Official Yerevan has raised the question of revising the concessions of the Armenian side in the Madrid Principles, while Baku has proved long ago that Azerbaijan refrains from constructive discussions in the peaceful talks and the agreements reached. This means that under this situation, official Yerevan should come up with new approaches.
EMMA GABRIELYAN.
“Aravot” 06.10.2016
