Wednesday, November 9 2022 11:52

ArmInfo. Quite substantial talks between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan were held in Washington through the mediation of the US Secretary of  State, however, for obvious reasons, nothing was signed, but the  parties did not come to a common denominator. Stepan Grigoryan, head  of the Analytical Center for Globalization and Regional Cooperation,  stated this on November 8 at a press conference in Yerevan.

At the same time, he recalled that negotiations on the settlement of  the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have been going on for 30 years, and  each time important issues are left for the next meeting. However,  according to him, what can be called positive in this situation is  that Azerbaijan does not shoot (on the night of November 7, the  Azerbaijani Armed Forces once again fired on Armenian positions on  the eastern borders of the country - ed. note), but instead  negotiations are underway. At the same time, Grigoryan assured that,  being in negotiations in Washington, Azerbaijan will not dare to  carry out military operations in the region.  "There are certainly  positive moments. American mediation is a deterrent mechanism for  Azerbaijani aggression. But it would be naive to think that all  issues will be resolved immediately and some document will be signed,  about which there were fears," the expert assured, pointing out the  importance of fixing these achievements.  At the same time, he drew  attention to the fact that today there are three formats for  resolving the situation:  the already existing Putin-Pashinyan-Aliyev  format, that is, Russia-Armenia-Azerbaijan at the highest level;  Macron-Michel-Pashinyan-Aliyev format, a very important and useful  format for the Armenian side, that is, the European platform within  which Yerevan and Baku are negotiating; and the third one, according  to him, is even more important at the level of the RA and AR foreign  ministers in Washington or American mediation.

While agreeing that American and European mediation are  interconnected, Grigoryan noted that Russia has lost its monopoly  position in the negotiations between Yerevan and Baku. According to  him, today the Washington and Brussels formats are no less important  than the Russian one. "The situation on earth has changed. This is  very important," he assured, emphasizing once again that Russia no  longer has a monopoly on this matter in Armenia and Artsakh, this  monopoly has been destroyed.

Answering about Iran's mediating role that it can play in the region,  the expert noted that he does not know what Iran can be useful for.  "Yes, by and large, Iran has no problems with Armenia, but it has big  problems with Azerbaijan. Many do not know that Azerbaijan's deep  cooperation with Israel in the defense sector makes Iran nervous. I'm  not sure that Iran can be a full-fledged mediator, but who said that  we should ignore its role," he said, also recalling the proposals of  the Georgian side on mediation.

However, as Grigoryan continued, Armenia must understand that Iran  and Georgia cannot play the main role, but can only complement these  mediation efforts. According to him, only major powers are able to  undertake such efforts and exert any influence. In this vein, the  expert also pointed to the role of the EU and OSCE monitoring  missions in the region.

To the remark that, nevertheless, no effective measures were taken by  international bodies to withdraw the Azerbaijani occupying troops  from the sovereign territory of Armenia, Grigoryan assured that much  depends on us in this matter.

"We love to shift responsibility or blame onto others. Since May  2021, Azerbaijan has invaded our sovereign territories in several  directions. . However, do we appeal to the UN Security Council, the  OSCE Council, international organizations? As soon as, on September  14we appealed to the UN Security Council with the assistance of  France and asked for support, it has begun," he assured, while  maintaining only the return of 17 Armenian prisoners of war as an  effective measure.  Grigoryan also noted that a number of effective  resolutions are being prepared by certain power centers, and if  Azerbaijan does not withdraw its troops, it will be subject to  sanctions.  At the same time, the expert accused Russia and the CSTO  of unwillingness to condemn the Azerbaijani aggression against the  Republic of Armenia, since Baku is now an ally of Moscow. "A rather  difficult situation has developed for us, our traditional partners  Russia and the CSTO do not recognize the aggression of Azerbaijan,  but the United States, France and even Great Britain do.  The last  correct steps of the Armenian government led to the fact that they  began to put pressure on Azerbaijan," Grigoyarn said, although he did  not specify what steps he was talking about.  At the same time,  Grigoryan admitted that each of the superpowers has its own interests  in this region, and they act based on them.