Today.Az » Politics » Top official: Armenia should assess current situation in Karabakh conflict resolution
29 April 2014 [14:27] - Today.Az
By AzerNews
Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister said Baku sees no changes in the settlement process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Armenia should assess the current situation which may deteriorate in the country, as well as around it, Araz Azimov told journalists on April 28.
"The Armenian leadership should think it over," Azimov noted.
He said in the last summit of the Eastern Partnership program, the Armenian President witnessed how his country was left alone with no one openly supporting it.
Speaking about the impact of the cold relations between Russia and the U.S. on solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azimov said they are two major players in the international arena.
"The largest stockpile of nuclear weapons belongs to these two countries," Azimov said. "The overall situation may depend on the willingness of the U.S. and Russia to take risky steps. Cooperation between the U.S. and Russia is being tested in connection with the events in Ukraine. Each side is keen to find a solution through diplomatic ways. At the same time, on the background of ongoing discussions and the adoption of the final document at the Geneva meeting, the U.S. is busy with inflicting sanctions against Russia."
Azimov went on to note that the main question is not the worsening of relations, but a serious test of the international situation and the system that has shaped over many years.
"The U.S. and Russia have experienced such difficult situations in the past. Hopefully, in this case, they will also find a way out. Europe, U.S., and Russia have faced with very complicated issues due to the situation in Ukraine. No one should use the processes within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group to get a visual development. The process should be based on the norms and principles of international law," Azimov said.
Azimov also noted that maybe the Armenian community can compel the country's leadership through people's diplomacy to assess the situation and Azerbaijan's position.
"We may speak about the more serious role of public diplomacy if the public forces in Armenia affect the president and the government by public means. But at the moment, I do not see it. Even if there is any pluralism in Armenia, it is invisible. Unfortunately, we are not witnessing pluralism in connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement either," Azimov pointed out.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s.
The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.
Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France, and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. Negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.
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