Friday, December 6 2019 16:59

ArmInfo. The status of  Nagorno-Karabakh, recognized by Azerbaijan, will be the final, and  not the starting point of the negotiations. This was announced at a  press conference on December 6 by the director of the Caucasus  Institute, political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan. "And until this  final point is achieved, all options are put on the negotiating table  and these options cannot be excluded from the discussion", the  political scientist noted.

Iskandaryan believes that it is unrealistic to expect a significant  progress in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, noting that this  is also evident from the statements of the Foreign Ministers and the  leadership of both countries.

The political scientist noted that Azerbaijan's desire, covered by  "polite wordings" about an exchange of prisoners serving for the  murder of Azerbaijani citizens in Nagorno-Karabakh on the principle  of "all for all" create a special situation in which the wording of"  all for all'' does not work, at least for the Armenian parties.   Speaking about the results of the Mnatsakanyan-Mammadyarov meeting,  Iskandaryan, in particular, noted:  "The parties expressed their  positions and we saw that these positions do not coincide. There is  nothing new in this, but it is important that it has been expressed.  In fact, the Azerbaijanis said that they do not agree with what the  Armenians say, the Armenians said that they do not agree with  Azerbaijanis''.  However, the political scientist called the Armenian  Foreign Minister's words a convincing document, continuing that  despite the rather obvious things being said, they were made in plain  text.

"Mnatsakanyan, in particular, said that negotiations are conducted  on the basis of three principles and preceding the idea of  negotiations by the fact that one of these principles is negated  means that the problem can be solved within the framework of the  territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. This means that the principle of  self-determination does not work in this context, it goes beyond the  philosophy of negotiations in general in the format of the OSCE Minsk  Group. Any talk about the fact that the Armenian republics agree to  the self-determination of Azerbaijanis, only this self-determination  should be inside Azerbaijan - is not serious.  In fact, Mnatsakanyan  says that there are principles, and none of these principles can be  ruled out while negotiations are ongoing", Iskandaryan summed up. 

It should be noted that in Bratislava a meeting was held between the  Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan Zohrab Mnatsakanyan Elmar  Mammadyarov with the mediation of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk  Group. Following the meeting, the heads of delegations of the OSCE  Minsk Group co-chairing countries issued a statement emphasizing a  firm commitment to mediation in the peaceful settlement of the  Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.