ArmInfo.Given that Azerbaijanis living in the former NKAR are citizens of Azerbaijan, the president of this country has all the powers to represent their interests in the negotiation process. Former Artsakh Republic Foreign Minister Arman Melikyan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"However, neither Ilham Aliyev, nor Nikol Pashinyan is representing the interests of the Artsakh Armenians is unauthorized. It is precisely this reason for the necessity of representing the Artsakh people in the negotiations by a separate delegation. About which Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly said. Thus, meaningful negotiations on the Artsakh problem can be resumed only after agreement by the heads of Armenia and Azerbaijan of a mutually acceptable formula around the participation of the Artsakh people. In my opinion, the next meeting of the foreign ministers may be devoted to this particular issue " the expert stressed.
Armenian Foreign Ministers Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Azerbaijan - Elmar Mamedyarov met for less than a year 5 times. The sixth ministerial meeting was expected on the margins of the Munich Security Conference, but this time, Mnatsakanyan and Mamedyarov did not seize the opportunity. At the same time, with the coming to power, the new Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan managed to meet with Ilham Aliyev three times, moreover, all three meetings were unofficial.
According to Melikyan, creating a negotiation process around the problem of territories is not constructive, since this problem is an insurmountable obstacle on the way to lasting peace and real reconciliation of peoples. According to his estimates, there are other internationally recognized principles on this path that can provide a worthy resolution to the parties to the conflict and to all those directly affected by it.
In this light, the analyst is convinced that it is Yerevan and Stepanakert that should take the initiative to bring the negotiations out of the current impasse. Otherwise, the Armenian negotiators will remain in extremely unfavorable negotiating positions, due to the mistakes and omissions of their predecessors. Since 1992, the OSCE Minsk Group, represented by the co-chairs from Russia, the United States and France, has been involved in resolving the Karabakh conflict. Currently, within the framework of the next regional visit, the mediators are in Yerevan. Igor Popov, Andrew Schofer, Stephane Visconti discussed with Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan the details of the Davos meeting of the Armenian Prime Minister with the President of Azerbaijan.