Pre-Kazan expectations
In April 2011, OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Robert Bradtke, Bernard Fassier and Igor Popov, in the end of the regular visit to the region, issued a statement in Baku noting that they have discussed the next steps with the parties aimed at achieving agreement on the Basic Principles, and state that “the time has come to finalize the Basic principles, to encourage and pass to the elaboration of a peace agreement.” “Based on the joint statement made in Sochi on March 5 by the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijani, and Russian, the Co-Chairs presented the draft on the creation of investigation mechanisms in the participation of all parties for the border incidents,” reads the statement.
In May, it was officially announced that the meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will be held in Kazan on June 25. The next meeting of the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia in tripartite format took place in Sochi, on March 5, 2011. In end of May 2011, under the “G-8” summit held in Deauville, France, the presidents of Russia, the US and France passed a joint statement on Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, in which the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan called upon “to demonstrate their political will by finalizing the Basic Principles during their upcoming summit in June” and urged the leaders of the sides to prepare their populations for peace, not war. Barack Obama’s, Dmitry Medvedev’s and Nicolas Sarkozy’s joint statement read that further delay would only call into question the commitment of the sides to reach an agreement.
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Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, commenting on the joint statement of the presidents of Russia, the US and France, expressed confidence that the chances for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are more than ever, “We are not on the threshold of a new conflict; we are much closer to a settlement process.” As for Baku, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at that stage, “The NKR conflict settlement process has been activated currently and intensive work is underway on agreeing on the Basic Principles.
However, agreeing on the Basic principles is not yet a peace treaty. It is unacceptable that after agreeing on the Basic principles, the peace agreement would require another 70 years. If the Basic principles are accepted then the signing of the peace treaty should take place within 6-12 months.”
In 2011, Baku was speaking of the deployment of peacekeeping forces
Baku, speaking of the peace agreement and supporting on agreeing to the principles “as soon as possible” was leaving an impression that it is going to accept the Basic Principles at Kazan talks. In early June, the Head of the Department of Foreign Relations of Administration of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Novruz Mammadov, said that Baku officially expects some progress from the June 25 meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Kazan, “I do not rule out the possibility of signing a document as a result of Kazan talks. It depends on Armenia. Now, the main question is that both Azerbaijan, the international organizations and mediators are acting in favor of changing the status quo. I hope that Armenia will be strong enough to show a constructive stance and record an advancement in the solution of this issue.”
