Today.Az » Politics » Lajcak: Change in negotiation format should be acceptable to all parties
14 March 2019 [17:08] - Today.Az


By Azernews


By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan continues to amaze with his statements. The Armenian leader stubbornly tries to prove that he is a unique supporter of peace in the region and is ready to take necessary steps in this regard.

Recently, Pashinyan shocked with his words that the preparation of Azerbaijani society for peace should be carried out with the participation of the authorities of not only Azerbaijan but also Armenia. Unfortunately, he did not clarify exactly how he is going to prepare society for peace, and what his participation implies.

Afterwards, he left a record in his microblog on Twitter about his readiness to continue negotiations with Azerbaijan.

Remarkable, quite recently Pashinyan argued that he could not negotiate with Baku, but after the meeting of the Armenian Security Council in the occupied territories, the statement has been amended. Now it is interesting what he is going to have a dialogue with the Azerbaijani people if he denies the need to fulfill the fundamental principle of conflict resolution - the return of the occupied territories?

Has something changed in this matter after the meeting in occupied Khankendi? If not, Azerbaijan has nothing to talk about with Yerevan. Azerbaijan will discuss all other issues only after the resolution of this main issue, which is stated in the statement of the Minsk Group co-chairs statement, but ignored by Armenia.

By the way, Pashinyan’s illogical maneuvers are not only surprising Azerbaijan. Russian political scientist, Stanislav Tarasov considers, there is a steady feeling that Pashinyan is maneuvering, trying to play the Karabakh issue in his own interests.

The reason for the appearance of illogical statements by Pashinyan is quite understandable. He also expressed himself peacefully at the beginning of his Premiere term. Having approved his power, Pashinyan spoke in a completely different way, putting the negotiation process at a dead end and making the co-chairs really outraged.

That seems to make the co-chairs make an unprecedented statement, in which they specifically indicated to Armenian Prime Minister that the format of the negotiations would not be changed. If this statement were not, there would be no desire for a dialogue with the Azerbaijani people, there would be no assurances of readiness to continue negotiations with Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan was simply afraid that the stubbornness and the undermining of the peace process would deprive him the possibility for maneuver. Today, he still claims that the issue of participation of illegal Karabakh regime in negotiations is actual, but adding that this is not an ultimatum. Such a change indicates to an understanding that it will not be possible to continue to deceive the whole world.

At the joint briefing in Yerevan with Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on March 13, Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak once again touched on the topic of the format.

Lajcak noted that Armenia should determine the format of participation in the negotiations on Karabakh, acceptable to all parties.

"There is a whole process that is carried out within the framework of established traditions and can achieve certain results. Of course, the Armenian government should decide the format, but any possible change in the format of negotiations should be acceptable to all parties," said Slovak FM.

With this statement, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office consolidated the relevant statements of EU officials, voiced during Pashinyan’s visit to Brussels. Lajcak has drawn a line under the discussions on the topic, and now Yerevan will have to apply for sympathy either to the UN Secretary General himself or to the presidents of the co-chairs’ countries.

Although, they are unlikely to want him to sympathize.




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