ArmInfo. Against the background of the lack of readiness of the conflicting societies to compromise around Karabakh, any politician proposing it will commit suicide. President of the Scientific Society of Caucasus Studies Alexander Krylov expressed such an opinion to ArmInfo.
"The course of the conflict, its settlement after the 1994 truce has led to a constant increase in the level of hostility. It seems to me that even in 1994 there was no such intensity of mutual hatred and hostility as we can see today. Accordingly, it will be possible to talk about the problem resolution through negotiations and mutual compromises only after many years of preliminary work. To begin with, it is necessary to take under control, to implement permanent monitoring of the Line of Contact in order to prevent outbreaks of hostilities. And, of course, to promote peace, and not war, only then it will be possible to come to a compromise, "the political scientist emphasized.
The discussion on the immediate prospects for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict has intensified significantly since the end of 2018. In December, following talks with Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, stated that "he achieved for the first time in a long time mutual understanding with his Armenian counterpart." After that, the January talks between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan ended with a formula on "preparing peoples for peace." Three informal meetings of Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev fueled the situation even more.
Commenting on the possibility of a speedy compromise between the parties to the conflict, Krylov recalled that the revival of the trilateral format of negotiations on the resolution of the Karabakh conflict is still completely unacceptable for Baku. In turn, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, stating the need for Stepanakert to participate in the negotiations, first of all answered to his own critics, accusing him of intending to "surrender Karabakh." "At the same time, it is not condered at all that Pashinyan, in fact, takes a much more radical position on this issue than the former President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. Indeed, in recent years even the question of the return of Stepanakert to the negotiating table has not been raised. Therefore, in my opinion "It's premature to talk about quick compromises today. There is no necessary foundation, and it takes years and decades to create it," the political scientist concluded.