Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 28
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend:
The lull in the Nagorno-Karabakh process in connection with the difficult political crisis in Ukraine has come to a logical conclusion. The Azerbaijan, France and Armenia president's meeting in Paris was another step towards the stabilization of the situation around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The world players' paying attention to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement saw this meeting preceded by several bloody incidents on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops this summer that claimed many lives. However, immediately after the practical resumption of hostilities between the two republics, the leaders of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries made efforts to return the sides of the territorial dispute to the negotiating table.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict may not remain a 'frozen' territorial dispute as the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia that have lasted for more than 20 years can not continue forever. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen realize that it is necessary to impress upon Yerevan as the aggressor country to move the conflict off dead center.
Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated a trilateral meeting over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan in Sochi last August.
Prior to that, the Russian president held bilateral meetings with the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents. Afterwards, another co-chair country of the OSCE Minsk Group, the US took the initiative. On this occasion, the leaders of the two countries met on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Newport with participation of US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Today, French President Francois Hollande held bilateral and trilateral meetings with his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts at the Elysee Palace.
Although it is unlikely that another meeting of the two opposing sides will lead to any cardinal breakthrough in the process of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the attention of the leaders of world powers to this process may be assessed as a positive trend.
The main result of the meeting was that the president of France, the country where the Armenian diaspora is strong and influential enough, reiterated the unalterable point in the settlement of the territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan: the status quo which satisfies Armenia is unacceptable. And this is one of the main messages the leaders of the three powers need to send to Armenia.
Meanwhile, the mediators should realize that everlasting protocol meetings, which do not bring any noticeable results, will eventually become completely useless and unable to stabilize the situation between the conflicting sides.
So, each leader must realize one thing: the image of a mediator is an important diplomatic step. However, in order to deserve to be called a peacekeeper, one needs to carry out really fruitful mediation work.
Elmira Tariverdiyeva is Trend Agency's staff commentator
Edited by CN