Pashinyan leaves no space for development of prospects for negotiation process
By Rashid Shirinov
Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan leaves no space for the development of prospects for the negotiation process, Russian historian and political analyst Oleg Kuznetsov told Day.az on July 26.
He was commenting on the recent statements of the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan regarding the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in which the Armenian leader reaffirmed his inadmissible position on the involvement of Karabakh separatists in the negotiation process.
Kuznetsov noted that Pashinyan did not say anything fundamentally new in his speech.
“Moreover, the Armenian prime minister has once again confirmed the immutability of his foreign policy on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which, in fact, has already been led back to the situation of summer 1994,” the expert mentioned.
Kuznetsov added that Pashinyan radically rejects all the few Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements that have been achieved over the past 25 years with Russia’s diplomatic mediation.
“All his efforts in this direction are aimed at destroying all the stunted sprouts of the negotiation process that were raised under Russian mediation,” the political analyst said.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of Azerbaijan with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.
Until now, Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.
Baku, in turn, has repeatedly expressed its consent to come to the negotiating table with Yerevan to finally resolve the conflict by peaceful means, but Armenia continues to play for time and avoids substantive negotiations in order to preserve the status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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