American expert: OSCE Minsk Group of Co-Chairs become a tool of Yerevan’s struggle to preserve its enduring status-quo

European security organizations and NATO must strive, in a coordinated effort, to bring lasting peace to the Caucasus, American political scientist, Professor at the University of Marquette (Wisconsin) Peter Tase said.

“While the format of negotiations remained unchanged, the ongoing discussions among both countries, hosted by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, did not produce any tangible outcome; nevertheless, we have the inception of a new momentum in the negotiation process. Above all, it is imperative to ensure complete territorial sovereignty of Azerbaijan and convince the international community to exert pressure on Armenia to withdraw its troops from the districts of Kalbajar, Lachin, Qubadli, Jabrayil, Zangilan, Agdam, Fuzuli”, Tase writes.

According to him, without Armenia’s substantive actions to withdraw its troops and genuine good will in refraining from escalating the daily armed provocations in the line of contact against Azerbaijani soldiers, it is impossible to bring peace to the Southern Caucasus.

He noted that the ongoing clashes in the lands of Azerbaijan are even more complicated and have affected its entire population, causing economic stagnation the Caucasus region, an environmental disaster in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories, and setbacks in the development of the Armenian national economy (thwarting the country from taking a quantum leap towards a free economy, fighting the war against corruption and consolidating democratic institutions).

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently issued a statement advocating for “an atmosphere of peace”, however, the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is impossible without a complete withdrawal of the occupying Armenian forces from Azerbaijan’s territories and organising the return of the forcibly expelled Azerbaijani IDPs to these lands.

“European security organizations and NATO must strive, in a coordinated effort, to bring lasting peace to the Caucasus and eliminate the persisting residues of a bloody conflict that erupted when the Iron Curtain was crumbling and Germany was reunified. Yerevan must be persuaded to embrace a timetable of actions that could raise the level of confidence and trust in the future negotiations with Azerbaijan," the expert believes.

“The OSCE Minsk Group of Co-Chairs has become a tool of Yerevan’s struggle to preserve its enduring status-quo," the article reads.