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Armenian leadershipâ€™s diffidence â€“ main reason for delay in Karabakh talks

07 October 2016 11:35 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Malahat Najafova – APA. Armenian leadership’s diffidence is the main reason for a delay in the negotiation process on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Sergey Markov, political analyst, director of the Russian Institute of Political Studies, told reporters in Baku Oct. 7.

“There were quite intensive negotiations earlier this year. In summer or autumn, it was possible to come to an agreement [on the conflict’s setttlement] based on the Kazan formula and ensure the return of Azerbaijani IDPs to their native lands before the end of the year, however, all the attempts failed,” he said.

According to the political analyst, the Armenian government lacks self-confidence and is afraid of being overthrown if they make compromises.

“They intend to return adjacent districts after the recognition of the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian leadership’s inability to make compromises caused a delay in the negotiations,” he said, adding that military operations could resume if no progress is made in the negotiations.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in Dec.1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.