Trend European Desk Commentator Elmira Tariverdiyeva
People do not judge political leaders by their words and actions at this particular moment. They judge them by the result of these words and actions for the country and people, who chose their president, in the long-term prospect. But there is a big question whether elections in Armenia, which led Serzh Sargsyan to power, were legitimate. But now the question is what the Armenian president, who is already in power, is doing at the presidential post.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan led his country into a big geopolitical impasse by external circumstances, such as the impact of the global Armenian diaspora, or his own political ambitions.
One does not want to repeat again about the short-sighted policy of Yerevan, which brought to naught all the efforts of the international community to normalize its relations with Ankara. Although, with a successful scenario, the normalization of relations with the nearest neighbor would give Armenia a lot of economic and political rewards. But we all know how negatively the intransigence of Armenia in the Nagorno Karabakh issue and the so-called "genocide" of Armenians affected the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.
Now Armenia has said good-bye to all hopes for a quick settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which observers, mediators and the international community had for the last two years.
The last trilateral meeting between the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, held in St. Peretburge June 17 within the international economic forum, has created new hopes for progress.
But one can say that hope is not obvious.
This was the sixth meeting of the Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, which takes place at the initiative of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Except readiness of Presidents Aliyev and Sargsyan to continue the dialogue, nothing was achieved at the last meeting.
According to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov, one would like the Armenian side to realize the need to transfer the number of meetings on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement in quality.
There is an appropriate desire. The Azerbaijani side has clearly explained what it expects from Armenia to continue constructive talks on Nagorno-Karabakh. Yerevan does not hurry to make steps forward.
Madrid principles, proposed by co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, remain the only document during negotiations. It is the only and, unfortunately, the abstract one.
The parties can not agree on the final content of this document. However, even when the work on the document is based on the views of both sides, Yerevan considers it possible to stall for time because of what the whole process of negotiations is stalling.
During a tripartite meeting of the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia in January 2010, co-chairmen proposed the so-called updated version of the Madrid document, which, they were preparing, coordinating with both parties of the conflict.
Azerbaijan immediately accepted the main provisions of the updated principles. However, Armenia did not react. It took time out, which lasted for six months.
That is, Yerevan is deliberately stalling. It does not want to change the status quo in the region, which is not suitable for Baku upon some objective reasons.
The Armenian president is constantly accusing Baku of bellicose rhetoric, exacerbates its condition and situation of the country, by making so illogical steps and ignoring opinion of the world community.
Serzh Sargsyan made a very strange statement immediately after the European Parliament adopted the resolution 2216 on the South Caucasus May 20. It calls to renounce all actions aimed at maintaining the status quo established by force and which is not in conformity with the international law in the Nagorno-Karabakh and to withdraw Armenian troops from occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
During a joint press-conference with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen who said that the alliance is not involved directly in the process of Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, Serzh Sargsyan reacted curiously. He said he had not heard either now or before, that NATO did not have any role in the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, particularly if the situation suddenly turns into a military phase. This objection was made with deliberate disregard for Rasmussen's words that "the military confrontation in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not forecasted.
So, Sargsyan is ready to request military assistance from NATO, as a country-member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. It is the organization where a dominant country is Moscow. To put it mildly, this country is unfriendly to the alliance. It is illogical.
Sargsyan is entangled in his geo-political actions. Doing nothing concrete to change the situation, Armenia aggravates its position on all political fronts.