Moscow seeks to tackle Karabakh conflict, Baku hails the efforts
Azerbaijan and Armenia have made a serious step to find a peaceful resolution to the long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at a meeting in St-Petersburg through the mediation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the sides agreed on creating an atmosphere to push forward the peace process.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan sat at a table of talks arranged by the head of key regional power Russia after the recent worst violence in decades in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
A Moscow-brokered ceasefire put an end to heavy clashes in early April, which were dubbed as Four Day War, whilst tensions remained high as Armenia continued to target the Azerbaijani civilians in the frontline zone.
The Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents first met on May 16, when they agreed to respect the Russia-backed ceasefire in the Vienna meeting with international mediators – including representatives from Russia, the United States and France.
Presidents Aliyev and Sargsyan also agreed to continue the peace talks in June and Russia became the host of next round of the peace talks, which were assessed as positive by Baku.
“The meeting was constructive. We believe this meeting to create opportunities for achieving progress in the negotiation process to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan NagornoKarabakh conflict,” said Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov following the meeting.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was also pleased with the results of talks. “The sides outlined concrete steps towards intensifying the negotiation process and agreed on a trilateral declaration which confirms their commitment to the normalization of the situation on the line of contact and their consent to increase the OSCE observers working in the zone of conflict,” he said.
The sides also expressed commitment to creating conditions for ensuring sustainable progress in the talks on political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he added.
In a joint statement after the meeting, the two sides said they had “agreed in particular to increase the number of international observers in the conflict zone” in order to help strengthen the halt in hostilities, the Kremlin reported.
However, no details were provided over the target number of monitors or a timeframe for when they would be deployed.
Currently, only six unarmed OSCE observers have been deployed in the region to monitor the situation.
The presidents also emphasized that mutual understanding was achieved on a number of issues which will make possible to create conditions for the progress in the conflict’s settlement.
Presidents Aliyev and Sargsyan further pointed out the importance of their regular contacts on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and agreed to continue those contacts in this format in addition to the work of the OSCE Minsk Group cochairs, who were invited to the final part of the St. Petersburg meeting, according to the Kremlin.
In case Russia continues playing a leading role in the conflict resolution, its influence will likely increase, and that will prove for the Kremlin's superior mediation skills over the West.
Moscow’s energetic diplomacy was a kind of expected move as the giant northern neighbor can play a key role in the conflict resolution given its leverages. Secretary General of the OSCE Lamberto Zannier and most recently German Chancellor Angela Merkel have voiced that Russia can play a key role in the conflict resolution.
Baku has repeatedly voiced its hope that Moscow will press its strategic partner and force it to make concessions.
Before the trilateral presidential summit, President Aliyev with his Russian counterpart had a one-to-one meeting, where the Azerbaijani side reminded that to change the status quo, it is necessary to start de-occupation of Azerbaijani territories which have been under occupation for over 20 years.
“Hopefully, we will manage to give constructive dynamics to the negotiation process which in fact, hasn’t been conducted over the last two years,” said President Aliyev.