ArmInfo. Incidents on the contact line of Artsakh-Azeri troops remain common, posing a risk of resuming large-scale military operations at any time. Professor of diplomacy and conflict resolution at the University of Kentucky (USA), former US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Carey Cavanaugh, said in an interview with Trend.
The expert recalled that in 2017 the Austrian chairmanship in the OSCE worked hard to promote the two confidence-building mechanisms to which Baku and Yerevan agreed in 2016 in Vienna and St. Petersburg. "Although the mechanism for investigating incidents remains difficult, an increase in the number of OSCE observers from six to thirteen is quite possible. Despite the fact that this will be only a minor change, the implementation of this measure will mean the willingness of the parties to take real steps to improve the situation," he said.
At the same time, according to Cavanaugh's conviction, despite the positive circumstance that Azerbaijan and Armenia resumed the dialogue at the level of presidents and foreign ministers, the parties still have not achieved any noticeable progress. "Despite the fact that in early 2017 there was an escalation on the contact line, the active participation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, the Austrian chairmanship in the OSCE and other key players contributed to the restoration of the dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan," he added.