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Austrian media reports on Brussels format prospects of Azerbaijan-Armenia negotiations

12 October 2022 11:02 (UTC+04:00)
Austrian media reports on Brussels format prospects of Azerbaijan-Armenia negotiations

By Trend

The Austrian Dasfazit.at online newspaper's article on "Brussels format: supporters and opponents of the promising platform" highlighted the recent meeting of the Azerbaijani, Armenian, French and European Council leaders within the European Political Community Summit, pointed out the important mediation mission of President of the European Council Charles Michel, and estimated the prospects of the Brussels format, Trend reports.

According to the article, President Ilham Aliyev was invited to visit Prague by President of the European Council Charles Michel and Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala.

The article emphasized the brokering role of Charles Michel, who made a lot of efforts to hold meetings and organize dialogues between Baku and Yerevan, as well as arranged four meetings between Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders in the post-second Karabakh War period. In addition, Charles Michel held several phone talks with the leaders of the two countries to discuss the peace agenda, and President Ilham Aliyev, during the Prague meeting, expressed support for the Brussels format and also thanked the European Council's president for his mediation activities.

As the article noted, the statements made following bilateral and trilateral meetings, initiated by Charles Michel, fully meet the interests of Azerbaijan, since they haven't contained the "Nagorno-Karabakh conflict", or "status" expressions, there's been no mention of OSCE Minsk Group, and the Armenians living in Karabakh have been regarded as an "ethnic group" of Azerbaijan.

Furthermore, the EU, which is interested in resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and opening transport and communication routes in the region, will take steps towards the signing of a peace agreement between the two countries. Therefore, Azerbaijan is not interested in changing the trilateral format, as well as the intervention of any forces in the process.

At a meeting with President Macron in France, Prime Minister Pashinyan said that the Armenians living in Karabakh could be involved as another "side" in the negotiation process. However, as the article stressed, President Ilham Aliyev's statement prior to his visit to Prague that the "Armenian population who still lives in Karabakh region of Azerbaijan are our citizens and we are not going to discuss how we are going to organize their life on our territory with any international player" thwarted the plans of forces to change the Brussels format of negotiations.

The article also cited other statements by the head of state underlining Azerbaijan's position: Armenians living in Karabakh, their fate and future are internal affairs of Azerbaijan; they will have the same rights as the citizens of Azerbaijan; their future lies only in integration into the Azerbaijani society.

Moreover, Armenia's consent to host the EU mission runs counter to the interests of Russia, which has repeatedly opposed foreign missions in the region. Thus, this step would possibly result in cooling relations between Russia and Armenia.

The article added that Armenia should adhere to the Brussels format that can guarantee a successful outcome for both Azerbaijan and Armenia.

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