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Azerbaijan’s position in Karabakh conflict logical, fair - Russian president’s trustee

5 April 2016 15:48 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijan’s position in Karabakh conflict logical, fair - Russian president’s trustee

Azerbaijan's position in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which requires that the situation be corrected, especially given the UN resolutions in connection with this, is logical and fair, Sergey Markov, the Russian president's trustee, the member of the Russian Public Chamber and political analyst, told Trend Apr. 5.

"The status quo reflects the allocation of forces observed over 20 years ago, at the time when Armenia was stronger," said Markov, adding that since then, the allocation of forces has changed significantly.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is in a unique state in comparison with other local conflicts, he said.

"Firstly, there are no peacekeepers in the line of separation, so the outbreak of hostilities may occur at any time," Markov said.

"Secondly, we see the frozen talks on the conflict," said Markov adding that first of all, the OSCE Minsk Group is responsible for this freezing of talks.

"There is a unique situation where the Minsk Group co-chairs are the three countries - the US, France and Russia - where the Armenian diaspora is the largest in the world," he noted. "And, of course, these countries are not in a hurry with the negotiations."

The current collisions on the contact line of the Azerbaijani-Armenian troops will force the Minsk group to act and unfreeze the negotiation process, according to him.

Moreover, Azerbaijan's hope should be only on Russia, as there is not only Armenian, but also powerful Azerbaijani diaspora in Russia, said Markov.

"Unlike France and the US, there are close ties with both Armenia and Azerbaijan in Russia," said the expert. "And Russia has a more centrist position in this sense than the US and France, where some diplomats' actions are paralyzed by very strong Armenian communities."

The expert added that it is necessary to switch to the ceasefire regime and use the large temporary historic compromise, reflected in the updated Madrid principles.

Markov also stressed the biased, anti-Azerbaijani position in many Russian media outlets.

Markov said that despite pro-Armenian, pro-Azerbaijani and neutral positions have been reflected in the Russian media, Azerbaijan's position has not been fully presented.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers.

The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. More than 370 Armenian soldiers, 12 tanks, 12 armored vehicles and 15 artillery guns.

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