ARMENIA TRYING TO MAINTAIN STATUS QUO

For more than a quarter of a century, 20 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan has been under the occupation of Armenia. Although over the past 25 years, certain steps have been taken to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the problem remains unresolved: meetings and discussions held within the framework of the negotiation process do not bring results. Earlier Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia are invited to hold a meeting within the framework of the UN General Assembly. Armenian side asked for time to review the negotiation process.

According to experts, to intensify the negotiation process on the Karabakh conflict, first of all, the parties themselves should be ready for negotiations. However, Armenia does not want to negotiate.

“Armenia is trying to maintain the status quo, avoiding the negotiation process and thus, in general, to extend the entire settlement process. At the same time, after Nikol Pashinyan’s coming to power, their main goal is to prepare for the parliamentary elections. Therefore, who will conduct negotiations, as well as in what perspective – these are the issues now on the agenda. Therefore, they are trying to delay the time,” political scientist Arzu Nagiyev said.

According to experts, Armenia does not want to sit down at the negotiating table because of the tense internal socio-political situation.

“I believe that the issues related to Russia, and the raised theme of deployment of internal troops in Nagorno-Karabakh – all this is done in order to establish a political situation within the country. That is, the situation in Armenia is not good; there are even problems with conscripts, and the fact that Pashinyan’s son went to serve in Karabakh was a kind of message for conscripts. So, the issue is dragged out because of such internal problems of Armenia,” Naghiyev added.

“This indicates that the current government led by Pashinyan did not sufficiently study the conflict problem and at the very beginning of his coming to power he made a statement that it is necessary to involve the Nagorno-Karabakh side in the negotiation process, under which Pashinyan meant the Armenian community of Nagorno Karabakh. But at the last meeting with the co-chairs of the foreign ministers Mnatsakanyan and Mammadyarov, this request or the demand of the Armenian side was not answered, and this indicates that the desire of the Armenian side to involve additional Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians in the negotiation process was fiasco,” Elkhan Alasgarov, expert on international issues said.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov called the current Foreign Minister of Armenia a more professional diplomat than the previous one. It is believed that this fact can have a positive impact on the negotiation process.

“Yes, indeed, during the entire period of the previous negotiation process with the Armenian side, Nalbandian and his deputy Kocharyan made only statements that did not contribute to the negotiation process. They talked about the impossibility of settling the conflict peacefully. And we hope that in September the meeting to be held in New York will give us a new platform for the further negotiation process, because the talks cannot go on endlessly, and delaying this negotiation process can lead to a big conflict,” Elkhan Alasgarov added.

Azerbaijan is trying to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully. As experts in the political sphere say, if the negotiation process does not bring results and the territorial integrity of the country is not restored, Azerbaijan, relying on international law, will liberate its lands from the Armenian occupation by military means.