Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 25
By Samir Ali – Trend:
Washington is preparing to come up with new ideas, summarizing the views of the United States, Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, for solution of the Karabakh problem, the Chief Editor of the Baki Kheber newspaper, Political Expert Aydin Guliyev told Trend, commenting on the National Security Adviser to the US President John Bolton's visit to Azerbaijan.
Guliyev noted that John Bolton once again confirmed that the United States had not changed its priorities in resolving the Karabakh problem.
"The United States, as before, is committed to the principles of resolving the problem and considers the continuation of the conflict to be dangerous from the point of view of its regional and global impact. Particular attention is attracted by the fact that this statement by Bolton was voiced after the statements of some American politicians that the occupied lands of Azerbaijan must be returned. In other words, Bolton proceeds from the opinion of the public and US diplomats who are well aware of the fact of the occupation of Azerbaijani lands," the expert said.
He noted that Bolton’s open statement on the goal of his acquaintance with Azerbaijan’s approach to the conflict resolution process shows that after the meeting with Pashinyan, the US will have new ideas to speed up the negotiation process.
The US have also stated through Bolton that they see Azerbaijan as an irreplaceable partner in the fight against terrorism, human trafficking and drug trafficking.
"The US diplomat gave additional guarantees that his country will continue its strategic partnership with Azerbaijan in the field of global energy security. The United States, which have openly and repeatedly stated that it attaches strategic importance to cooperation with Azerbaijan in the field of economy and security, cannot but know what negative prospects are promised by the Karabakh conflict," Guliyev added.
The chief editor said that one of the logical results of the conducted analysis was that Bolton’s discussions with the President of Azerbaijan on all issues took place in an atmosphere of complete understanding.
"Due to the fact that the position of Armenia is very controversial, it is difficult to say that the discussions of Bolton with Pashinyan will go as smoothly as in Baku," Guliyev said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.