“The negotiations on Karabakh conflict have entered a very active phase, and the parties have taken the commitment to reach improvement in the issue,” said the US co-chairman of OSCE MG Robert Bradken during his visit to Yerevan. However, without this announcement either it would be clear that the process is going faster now.
This point is proven by the fact that a couple of days ago the issue of Karabakh conflict was discussed at the highest levels in Yerevan (connected with the visit of co-chairmen), in Moscow (where the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Russia had a meeting), and in Istanbul, where the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton discussed this issue with his Turkish colleague Davutoglu.
It is not known yet what this activation can bring to. The US co-chairman also said that people should not hurry to make conclusions and should wait to see how the processes may develop. He says that the parties should cooperate with the MG to clarify their approaches and later discuss the results. Several days ago the MG co-chairmen Bernard Fasier, Robert Bradke and Igor Popov visited Armenia in the framework of their visit to the region. Before visiting Armenia they had been to Baku. Edward Nalbandyan accepted them and Anjey Kasprchik in his office. The foreign ministry’s official statement about this meeting does not say anything. “The co-chairmen introduced their impressions concerning their meetings to Baku at their meeting with the head of the Armenian foreign policy ministry. During the meeting with the mediators the foreign minister commented on the statements from Baku concerning working on the agreement without having agreed the main principles and said that this would be against the logic of the negotiations and the approaches of the mediators as well,” informs the ministry of foreign affairs.
Robert Bradke said to journalists, “Ambassador Fasier spoke about the visit of foreign minister Lavrov to Washington, during which Lavrov met with president Barack Obama and state secretary Hillary Clinton, and the White House expressed commitment to support Lavrov and president Medvedev in their efforts to resolve the conflict.”
Following the meeting in Kazan, which many experts say was not successful, the Russian foreign minister visited the US, and during his meeting with the president Obama they talked about the settlement of Karabakh conflict and the president said that the US supported the efforts to agree the framework agreement between the countries.
President Serzh Sargsyan had a meeting with co-chairmen as well. The president’s press service only informs that during the meeting issues concerning Karabakh conflict settlement were discussed.
Some more information is provided by the announcement of the OSCE MG, which is posted in the OSCE official website. “In Baku and Yerevan the co-chairmen had meeting with presidents Aliyev and Sargsyan. During the meetings the co-chairmen emphasized the importance to reach agreement upon agreeing the main principles. They mentioned that it was time to perform a political will, which is needed for strong peace, as well as reconciliation of the people in the region. The presidents expressed commitment to transform to the latest formulations recommended for the framework agreement and the importance of continuation of the work with the presidents and co-chairmen for the purposes of making peace in the region,” writes the OSCE MG statement.
Usually societies do not know much about the visits of c-chairmen. However, this time the Russian media was full of information especially about the visit of the Azeri foreign minister Elmar Mamediarov to Moscow.
Elmar Mamediarov passed to the Russian president Medvedev the answers to Russia’s recommendations on Karabakh conflict (to note, days ago the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov visited Yerevan and Baku and passed Medvedev’s recommendations concerning the resolution of the conflict). Mamediarov said that not everything depends on Baku and they had to wait for Yerevan’s answer. “We think that there is improvement in the process of Karabakh conflict settlement. We are gradually moving to the point when everyone will understand that the existing situation is not in the interests of either of the parties, including our neighbors,” said Mamediarov. Notwithstanding the experts that have pessimistic opinions about the meeting in Kazan, the Azeri foreign minister said that the meeting of Kazan was a step forward and that it was time to work on the peace agreement. “The discussion of the peace agreement will be a sign that we are approaching the final phase of negotiations,” he said. Several days ago the Azeri foreign minister gave interview to the Interfax, in which he said that Baku is ready to start the work with Yerevan on preparing a peace agreement.
Concerning Karabakh conflict settlement Lavrov said, “I will not discover a big secret if I say that the main principles start with the following words: the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have decided to start the work on peace agreement. This sentence is followed by the principles, which we are trying to agree and will be included in the peace agreement.” He says that all co-chairmen believe that in case of agreement the political document will have a significant meaning for the future works on the peace agreement. “It already contains a number of provisions, which are ready to be included in the agreement. However, there are a number of provisions, which are not many, have significant meaning and are subject to further work,” said Lavrov.
By the way, during Lavrov’s press-conference the Azeri journalists did not miss the opportunity to speak of the information spread by them (concerning Aygyun Shamkhaliyeva aged 13, who allegedly died because of an explosive made by Armenians).
In answer to this question Lavrov said that the authorities of Azerbaijan had instituted legal proceedings and petitioned the journalists not to use words such as vandalism or terrorism before the end of those investigation works. “The RF condemns any violence on the line of conflict at the border of Karabakh and Azerbaijan,” said Lavrov. Lavrov also reminded about the trilateral announcement made by Medvedev, Aliyev and Sargsyan in Astrakhan and Sochi, which is about strengthening trust between the parties and investigating incidents at the borders. Concerning this point Lavrov said that another effort to strengthen trust would be the removal of snipers from the borders.
According to the Russian foreign ministry web site, Edward Nalbandyan has had a phone conversation with Lavrov, during which during which the parties discusses issues concerning Nagorno Karabakh conflict. According to the information in the web site, the parties attached importance to the fulfillment and implementation of the commitments taken by the parties during the meetings in Astrakhan on October 27, 2010, and in Sochi on March 5, 2011 between the presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. These agreements concern the protection of the ceasefire regime, strengthening mutual security and other means to strengthen the trust between the two countries and cooperation in investigation of incidents. Nalbandyan informed that in the near future the Russian party will receive Serzh Sargsyan’s answer to Medvedev’s message concerning the results of the meeting in Kazan on June 24.
The media publications concerning the issue of Karabakh are not limited with the information above. According to the Turkish Zaman newspaper, on July 16 the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton and Turkish foreign minister Ahmed Davutoglu met in Istanbul. During a joint press-conference following the meeting Davutoglu said during the meeting they also discussed issues concerning the situation in Caucasus, Karabakh issue and the process of development of relations between Armenia and Turkey.
It is difficult to say what the result of this unexpected activation of the conflict resolution process may be. However, it is clear for sure that the international community is increasing the pressure on the parties and does not want to tolerate the frozen conflict in the region anymore.