Political Scientist: OSCE MG Co-Chairs take a passive approach to Karabakh Talks - OPINION

The optimism that is present today in the negotiations and in the OSCE MG statements regarding the progress of the negotiations is not confirmed by practice, since it has no results, Political analyst Ilgar Velizade told Report, commenting on the results of the talks between the Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers in Washington. 

"If you pay attention to the text of the statements of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs following the meeting, I would like to note that the parties discussed the implementation of the agreements reached during the Paris and Moscow meetings. In this case, from what we know, a series of issues related to humanitarian steps were  discussed in detail at both meetings. In particular, they discussed exchange of journalists, giving relatives the opportunity to visit hostages and prisoners of war.

Notably, the Azerbaijani side offered an extended interpretation, in particular, a proposal was made to exchange hostages on the principle of "all for all". However, the Armenian side agreed, apparently, only on the possibility of visiting hostages and prisoners of war by family members”, Velizade said.

Political analyst Ilgar Velizade

"The optimism that is present today in the negotiations and in the OSCE MG statements regarding the progress of the negotiations is not confirmed by practice."

İlqar Vəlizadə

Политолог Ильгар Велизаде:

According to him, against the background of the discussion, the progress of the implementation of these agreements between the ministers, Azerbaijan has not yet observed any progress in this direction. He stressed that today, Baku is facing frequent military exercises and provocations on the front lines, aggressive rhetoric from representatives of the Armenian political and military leadership. The political analyst recalled the incident with Arsenal footballer Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who refused to come to Baku for a match against Chelsea: "And Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan openly expressed his satisfaction with the fact that Mkhitaryan refused to visit Baku."

The expert expressed the opinion that the optimism that is present at the meetings and in the statements of the co-chairs is not confirmed by the practice, as there are no real results from such diplomacy.

“Unfortunately, attention should also be paid to the passiveness of the Minsk Group co-chairs with the participation of which these agreements were reached. I think that the OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairs should express their opinion on delays in the implementation of humanitarian steps, at a minimum. On the back of such intense processes, we see the extreme restraint of the Azerbaijani side against Armenian provocations. In previous years, the Azerbaijani side could respond much more harshly. The Armenian leadership demonstrates a desire to move the negotiation process only in words during the negotiations," added Velizade.