Azerbaijan hopes that Vladimir Putin will put more effort into settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as the new Russian president, as stated by Ali Gasanov, head of the socio-political section of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, Trend reports.
Gasanov said that Russia has great political, economic, social, military and other kinds of influence on Armenia. Azerbaijan wants Armenia to leave the occupied territories.
Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group visited Nagorno-Karabakh in early March. rasim Musabekov, a political analyst, told Vestnik Kavkaza that details of proposals made by the co-chairs have not been given yet.
The expert reminds that negotiations have been ongoing for 17 years. Co-chairs make proposals on starting the dialogue, instead of speeding it up. When Armenia and Azerbaijan fail to achieve rapprochement they start concentrating on secondary aspect, such as the investigation mechanism and others.
Co-chairs of the OSCE Ambassadors Robert Bradtke (USA), Jacques Faure (France) and Igor Popov (Russia) and personal representative of OSCE chairman Andrzej Kasprzyk visited Yerevan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Baku on March 2-6. They met Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan and the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The co-chairs urged the OSCE High-Level Planning Group to work on further development of the mechanism for investigation of incidents in the area to improve stability and the atmosphere of trust. They discussed obligations of the Sochi statement, humanitarian problems.
Bradtke said that humanitarian links develop, but cooperation is insufficient. Bradtke said in December 2011 that people on both sides face problems with water supply and energy.
The co-chairs will visit Vienne on March 22 to inform the OSCE Permanent Council about the latest progress in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that a new meeting in a new format would be advisable. He added that the OSCE officials will visit the region in a month. The minister emphasized that Russia held presidential polls in March, France will hold them in April, Armenia in May and the US in November.
