In Armenia, experts think that declaration signed in Astana will not help in settling Karabakh conflict

The deadlock is still present in negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; the statement adopted in Astana will hardly change it: the conflicting parties stick to opposing viewpoints, Armenian experts say.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that at the OSCE summit in Astana, which ended on December 2, Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents were supposed to meet on December 1 to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, the pre-planned meeting did not take place. At the summit the two leaders came up with mutual accusations of unwillingness to solve problems peacefully.

Despite this, on December 1, a joint declaration was made public at the summit by the heads of the delegations of the OSCE Minsk Group (USA, Russia and France) and presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The "Caucasian Knot" was told by David Petrosyan, a political observer of the "Noyan Tapan" Information Agency, in his comment on the declaration passed in Astana, that the document "fixes the threshold of concessions that Armenia is ready to make, if Azerbaijan agrees to hold a referendum on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh".

According to Petrosyan, this threshold has already been fixed by the international community: "Namely: the Armenian party agrees to withdraw armed forces from certain security areas around Nagorno-Karabakh, if Azerbaijan agrees to hold a referendum on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, that is, to de-facto independence of Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan."

In his estimate, it is obvious that the negotiation deadlock continues, and the parties are today in the opposite positions, as before. "In particular, Azerbaijan has not abandoned the idea that by using a military revenge and petrodollars it may succeed in this matter," said Petrosyan.

Stepan Safaryan, head of the parliamentary faction "Heritage", noted about the above Astana declaration: "In Astana, presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a document that matches the statement of presidents of the countries co-chairs of the Minsk Group, which was adopted in Aquila a year ago. But the principles set forth in Aquila are unprofitable both for Armenia and Azerbaijan."

According to the MP, the significance of the declaration signed in Astana is scanty, because it "does not meet the today's challenges - it neither promotes reduction of the arms race nor reduces the risk of renewed warfare."

Political analyst Ervand Bozoyan said at a press conference on December 2 that he was pleased at least with the fact that president of Armenia did not sign the "roadmap" in Astana on the plan, which assumes step-by-step settlement of the conflict and which is in line with what Azerbaijan needs.

Professor Ruben Safrastyan, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, has noted, in his turn, on the value of the declaration adopted in Astana, that it was demonstrated once again that the Minsk Group did not admit the claim of the Azerbaijani party that the principle of territorial integrity should dominate.

Let us note here that the Azerbaijani political scientists also speculate that the Astana OSCE summit was helpless in promoting any solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.