Armenian political analysts criticize idea to change format of Nagorno-Karabakh talks

The Baku's idea of attracting a delegate of the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) to negotiations on Karabakh settlement will violate the earlier agreements and finally drive the talks to deadlock, the Armenian political analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

During their last visit to Baku, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group met not only with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, but also with the chairman of the Azerbaijani community of the NKR. The statement on the outcomes of the meetings with the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and NKR authorities was published on May 30.

In their statement, the co-chairs admit the legality of Armenia's demand to return the NKR to the negotiating table, Stepan Safaryan, a political observer, believes, adding that Azerbaijan sets a condition to attract also a member of the NKR's Azerbaijani community to the talks – an attempt to neutralize the Armenia's demand.

"At the same time, the mediators (co-chairs) report a meeting with the de facto NKR authorities, thereby recognizing them as representatives of the Artsakh people. In the future, the Armenian party should make the right decision to prevent the equal status of the parties, because one thing is de facto authorities, and another thing is a community representative," he told the "Caucasian Knot".

The participation of the NKR's Azerbaijani community in the talks will be another violation of the format thereof, said Manvel Sarkisyan, a political scientist and Director of the Armenian Centre for National and Strategic Studies.

He recalled that on March 24, 1992, in Helsinki, 11 countries made a decision, which, in particular, indicated the parties to the conflict. According to his story, even then Baku tried to involve the Azerbaijani community in the talks as an interested party.

Mr Sarkisyan doubts that the representative of the Azerbaijani community will become a party to the talks. "An attempt to attract the Azerbaijani community will be another violation of the mandate of the Minsk Group. Both Azerbaijan and the OSCE Minsk Group itself are in a difficult situation," he has concluded.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 2, 2019 at 07:44 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.