Azernews.Az

Moscow hosted a telebridge last Wednesday to discuss the outcomes of recent talks on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict between the two countries' leaders.
The two-hour discussions centered on the current state and prospects for resolving the dispute, including possible steps by the conflicting sides to achieve rapprochement in their positions. Political analyst from Moscow Sergei Markedonov, deputy director of the Carnegie Moscow Center Dmitri Trenin and a department head at the Russian Strategic Research Institute for CIS Aleksandr Skakov participated in the discussions. Azerbaijan was represented by analysts Fikrat Sadykhov and Rasim Musabayov, and chairman of the Party for Democratic Reforms Asim Mollazada.
Director of the Caucasus Mass Media Institute Aleksandr Iskenderian and the National Democratic Party leader Shavarsh Kocharian from Yerevan were in attendance as well.
Mollazada said in his remarks that Azerbaijan's importance in the region was growing by the day, while Armenia was left outside ongoing large-scale projects due to its radical stance.
"There are some projects that Azerbaijan and Georgia are jointly participating in. Such cooperation could be forged with Armenia as well if there were peace between the two countries…Time is on Azerbaijan's side as our development will further grow in several years. When Armenia's development slows down, Garabagh Armenians will realize the truth."
But analyst Markedonov argued that time "was not on anyone's side". "One shouldn't think that new conditions will emerge for the conflict settlement in 20 years, this is wrong."
The Russian pundit positively assessed the talks between Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian held outside St. Petersburg on June 6. "The presidents should work to ensure that the two nations have confidence in future peaceful co-existence. The presidential meeting gives hope that they will be able to sit down at the negotiating table again. I hope that new meetings will help accomplish new results in solving the Garabagh problem."
The representative of the Strategic Research Institute for CIS Skakov said Azerbaijan and Armenia should "put aside all their outstanding problems" and attend to the restoration of the towns of Aghdam and Shusha for the sake of future generations.
"For instance, it would be good to restore the historical monuments destroyed there by implementing humanitarian projects," the researcher said.
The two towns are among vast areas devastated by the Armenian troops during military action in Garabagh in the early 1990s.
Armenian analyst Kocharian said militarist statements and calls to hostilities were allegedly being made in Azerbaijan. "This prevents Azerbaijan from taking a mild stance on the issue. The Azerbaijani side at times disrupts negotiations, and puts forward resolutions at international organizations," he claimed.
The UN General Assembly passed a resolution in mid-March demanding unconditional pullout of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied land at Azerbaijan's initiative.
Differences of opinion further emerged between Azerbaijani and Armenian political analysts. Armenian representatives maintained that the occupied Azerbaijani territories have been historically their land, thus attempting to justify the presence of the self-proclaimed Upper Garabagh republic. They also rejected the statements that Armenians have been appropriating cultural monuments in the region.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus republics reared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia's territorial claims. Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan's internationally-recognized territory since the early 1990s, in defiance of international law. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have been fruitless so far.