Former OSCE MG co-chair pessimistic on Azerbaijani-Armenian presidents' meeting
By Aynur Karimova
Recently the top official of the OSCE, Lamberto Zannier, as well as the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, James Warlick, have voiced the possibility of a meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents.
The necessity of presidents' meeting arose from the increase of tensions in the region and along the Azerbaijani-Armenian border.
However, Matthew Bryza, the former U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, believes that there is no chance that next meeting between Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia will lead to a major breakthrough, as there is no communication between them right now.
“You can’t get a breakthrough that is meaningful if you haven't prepared the way,” Bryza told Trend on October 19. “It takes a long time to build the trust that allows real things to happen. But it is important to have this meeting between the presidents to begin this process of direct communication and of building trust.”
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor, causing a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.
As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 were reported missing, almost 100,000 were injured and 50,000 were left disabled.
The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on the Armenian withdrawal from Azerbaijani territories, but they have not been enforced to this day.
A prior meeting between Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan took place in Paris, France last October through an initiative by the French president. Currently, the co-chairs are working on another presidential meeting by end of the year to find a peaceful resolution to the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Bryza also believes that Russia has no ambition to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict now, as Russia wants a “no peace, no war” situation, which allows this country to manipulate the situation. Russia also does not want a war, "however I don’t think there is good chance for the [OSCE] Minsk Group process to move forward now.”
Bryza went on to add that Azerbaijan is a successful country, "independent and increasingly wealthy, with people’s lives getting better." Meanwhile, he stressed the necessity to continue strengthening itself.
"Azerbaijan firstly should do what it is doing in terms of strengthening itself, and taking advantage of this current period of low oil prices to reinvigorate reforms," he said. "Armenia would be wise to reduce its dependence on Russia, on Russian energy, investments, ownership of Armenia’s entire key infrastructure."
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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