Moscow meeting stresses need to imeplement earlier agreements on Nagorno-Karabakh

The long-awaited meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has finally been held last Friday.

Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov, of Azerbaijan, Sergey Lavrov, of Russia, and Edward Nalbandian, of Armenia, met in Moscow on April 28 on Russia's initiative.

The three ministers proceeded with discussions on prospects for the progress of the negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and stressed the need to implement the agreements reached at the summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg in 2016.

The agreements of these summits were aimed at stabilizing the situation in the conflict zone and the creation of an atmosphere conducive to advancing the peace process. To this end, the Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents agreed, in particular, to increase the number of international observers in the conflict zone.

During the meeting in Moscow, Mammadyarov and Nalbandian expressed gratitude to Russia for its efforts in promoting peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The three ministers agreed to continue contacts on all the issues discussed.

Following the tripartite talks, the foreign ministers met with the OSCE Minsk Group established to broker a peace to the NagornoKarabakh conflict.

At the meeting, the ministers and the OSCE Minsk Group cochairs exchanged views on the state of affairs regarding the settlement of the conflict.

Commenting on the Moscow meeting, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev noted that the foreign ministers will report on the achieved results to the heads of the their states.

Hajiyev said that the ministers discussed in detail the substantive talks held earlier at the level of presidents in Vienna and St. Petersburg. Praising Moscow's consistent efforts to bring positive changes in the Nagorno-Karabqakh peace process the former U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, Matthew Bryza, dubbed this meeting as “the Moscow process”.

In the meantime, Armenia, a party to this long-lasting conflict, does not stop provocations on the line of contact with the Azerbaijani troops. On April 27, right before the Moscow meeting, Armenia once again carried out armed provocation aiming to escalate the situation in the frontline. Thus, the air defense units of Armenia launched a guided rocket from the “Osa” surface-to-air missile system in Khojavend-Fizuli direction of the front.

In general, Armenia every day violates the ceasefire with Azerbaijan by shelling the Azerbaijani positions at an average of 110-120 times daily. The Armenian troops use mortars and large-caliber machine guns to implement these provocations.

Russian political analyst Evgeny Mikhailov believes that the main victory of Russia is that it keeps the process of settlement of the Karabakh problem under full control and it does not fall for provocations of the Armenian side, which regularly shells territory of Azerbaijan in an attempt to involve Moscow in the fighting on their side.

The expert noted that in future Russia may become the possible bridge for the full restoration of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia in case of the conflict settlement. He also added that the reconciliation is possible only if Azerbaijan gets back its territories through diplomatic negotiations.

For more than two decades, 20 percent of the Azerbaijani lands, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions, remain under Armenian occupation. As a result of Armenian aggression, more than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced.

Despite a fragile ceasefire agreement signed in 1994, Armenia keeps violating armistice with Azerbaijan and illegally remains in the Azerbaijani lands. The aggressor country rejects implementation of four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from NagornoKarabakh and surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan wishes to resolve the conflict as soon as possible by respecting the territorial integrity of the country. However, Armenia does its utmost to postpone the negotiation process and to preserve the status quo in NagornoKarabakh. In this context context, Azerbaijan is always up for diplomatic meetings with the Armenian side on the settlement of the conflict, and Russia-organized meeting in Moscow has brought hope for the revitalization of constructive talks.