Despite the pre-election moods in Azerbaijan, however, the mediators dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh seem to succeed in preparing a Sargsyan-Aliyev meeting. Especially the United States is obviously in haste in the issue of conflict resolution. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov, a day after his visit to Washington, said that, by the end of June, together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Edward Halbandyan they will meet and discuss the possibility of the meeting between Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev. Recently Mammadyarov met with co-chairs of OSCE Minsk Group in London and discussed with them some issues related to the date and agenda of Sargsyan-Aliyev meeting. The U.S. Ambassador in Baku Richard Morningstar, in the end of last week, clearly emphasized that John Kerry accepting the Ministers of Foreign Affairs Mammadyarov and later Nalbandyan in Washington, is trying to provide a certain shift in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and move off the process from the dead point.
Last week, the official statements from Washington during the meeting of the U.S. State Secretary John Kerry and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandyan in Washington were quite remarkable. Especially it was interesting that the U.S. Secretary of State, referring to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, affirmed that for the settlement of the issue steps should taken not only by Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also other countries in the territory. “It is obvious that the most important question that we all want to see resolved, is frozen conflict of NK. It is extremely important that all parties try to find a way out from the deadlock which constantly keeps this conflict sharp and in a situation full of possible dangers”, – said Kerry specially emphasizing that with the word of all parties he is referring to not only Azerbaijan, but also Turkey, Russia and Iran. The interest of Turkey in the issue of NK is obvious to everyone. Official Ankara has quite openly showed its expectations and has not hidden its efforts to support Baku in this issue. The policy of Turkey to isolate and blockade Armenia is the bright example of it. But the most interesting thing is that the American high level official while talking about the ways of Karabakh to ‘coming out of the deadlock’ has referred to Turkey, Iran, as well as to Russia, which is the OSCE MG co-chair country. This perhaps is not so shocking announcement at the first glance, but, as they say, the word of a diplomat are not accidental, they have underlines. In other words, if it was still accepted to say that the negotiating parties should demonstrate political will and reach for a compromise, today the U.S. seems to expand the scope of the “parties”. This means that the United States also expects certain steps from Ankara, because this country has done everything during the last two decades to prove that it can not establish diplomatic relations with Armenia until the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh has not been resolved in favor for Azerbaijan. Less remarkable is the fact that U.S. Secretary of State also pointed to Iran as an interested party in the conflict of NK. Iran, of course, from time to time has openly stated that it is not indifferent towards the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem; moreover, it has expressed its support to the parties at various levels.
If official Washington will clearly define the “parties” of NK conflict, it will not only open room for expectations for resolution of the conflict but also for other opportunities in the region. Perhaps, it is not coincidental that on the day of making this statement from Washington, in an interview with the Russian news agency REGNUM on June 4, the Iranian Ambassador in Armenia Mohammad Reisi first noted that the statement that the Iranian gas
is more expensive than the one from Russia does not correspond to reality. Then, to the question whether the Iranian gas could be an alternative to the one from Russia, the Ambassador said,- “Unfortunately, when we were building the Iranian pipeline, we decided that the diameter of the tube will be not big. Therefore, Iranian gas can not fully satisfy the demands of Armenia.
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Otherwise, Iran has enough gas reserves to be able to satisfy the demands of not only Armenia, but also of several other countries”. Let’s recall that earlier the Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan and the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Armenia Armen Movsisyan had announced that the Iranian gas is more expensive. Yesterday, the Iranian Ambassador in Armenia Mohammad Reisi during the meeting with journalists, in the context of relations with Armenia, reminded that Iran is ready to continue cooperation in two important directions: railway and construction of HECs. “We have repeatedly said that Iran is ready to start the construction of its section as soon as Armenia starts the construction of roads in its section.” The diplomat, then, explained, – “The construction of railway is useful for Iran, but not necessary. But we are ready to help Armenia to reduce the blockade of borders.” As we can see, the Iranian side, at the first glance, with its statements that are directly not correlated with NK problem, comes up with quite interesting proposals. The only thing left is to wait for messages from Ankara and Moscow. Despite everything, quite remarkable atmosphere is formed in the region before the presidential elections in Azerbaijan.
Emma GABRIELYAN
