Sterile meeting in Alma-Ata

The negotiations between the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministries, which started in a climate of mutual claims and accusations, have resulted in nothing. According to the Azerbaijani foreign minister, Elmar Mamedyarov, his Armenian counterpart, Edvard Nalbandyan, refused to uphold the "3+2" format statement, which had been welcomed in Baku.

The statements of the Armenian authorities made it quite clear that the negotiations would end up without result. Several days prior to the meeting Nalbandyan, refuted Mamediarov's claims about?the liberation of the occupied regions of Lachin and Kelbadjar. It strains credulity that the issues related to these two Azerbaijani issues have never been at the Azerbaijani-Armenian negotiation table, as the problem of Lachin and Kelbadjar, which connect Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, is one of the key points in the process of the conflict settlement.

Neither did the assistance of the OSCE Minsk group's member states produce results. The intermediaries pointed out the futility, not only of this particular meeting, but the negotiation process on the Karabakh conflict in general. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner and deputy US state secretary James Steinberg made a joint statement saying Baku and Yerevan were not making enough effort to resolve the conflict and urged them to reach compromise.

The mediators have recently sent several political messages, which should have convinced the Armenian side to start real rapprochement with Azerbaijan. The Nagorno-Karabakh region was included in the list of uncontrolled territories during the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, held in Oslo on July 9. This step was made on the initiative of the Azerbaijani deputy. The Baku authorities appraised this as a sign of international recognition of the illegality of Nagorno-Karabakh's status and the separatist character of its ruling powers.

A couple of months ago, on May 20, the European Parliament passed a resolution on the South Caucasus, urging the EU to put more effort into the peace process.

Moreover, the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group member-states have clearly called on Armenia for withdrawal of its troops from the Azerbaijani territories, in a joint statement made following the G8 summit in Toronto.
Armenia is not willing to surrender its positions and keeps on trying to persuade the international community of its readiness to continue negotiations. But if before, following every meeting, the mediators spoke about a rapprochement of the sides in regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, they now confine themselves to official announcements on the OSCE web-site, merely affirming that a meeting took place.

Elmira Tariverdieva, Baku. Exclusively for VK.