ArmInfo. The status of Nagorno-Karabakh, recognized by Azerbaijan, will be the final, and not the starting point of the negotiations. This was announced at a press conference on December 6 by the director of the Caucasus Institute, political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan. "And until this final point is achieved, all options are put on the negotiating table and these options cannot be excluded from the discussion", the political scientist noted.
Iskandaryan believes that it is unrealistic to expect a significant progress in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, noting that this is also evident from the statements of the Foreign Ministers and the leadership of both countries.
The political scientist noted that Azerbaijan's desire, covered by "polite wordings" about an exchange of prisoners serving for the murder of Azerbaijani citizens in Nagorno-Karabakh on the principle of "all for all" create a special situation in which the wording of" all for all'' does not work, at least for the Armenian parties. Speaking about the results of the Mnatsakanyan-Mammadyarov meeting, Iskandaryan, in particular, noted: "The parties expressed their positions and we saw that these positions do not coincide. There is nothing new in this, but it is important that it has been expressed. In fact, the Azerbaijanis said that they do not agree with what the Armenians say, the Armenians said that they do not agree with Azerbaijanis''. However, the political scientist called the Armenian Foreign Minister's words a convincing document, continuing that despite the rather obvious things being said, they were made in plain text.
"Mnatsakanyan, in particular, said that negotiations are conducted on the basis of three principles and preceding the idea of negotiations by the fact that one of these principles is negated means that the problem can be solved within the framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. This means that the principle of self-determination does not work in this context, it goes beyond the philosophy of negotiations in general in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group. Any talk about the fact that the Armenian republics agree to the self-determination of Azerbaijanis, only this self-determination should be inside Azerbaijan - is not serious. In fact, Mnatsakanyan says that there are principles, and none of these principles can be ruled out while negotiations are ongoing", Iskandaryan summed up.
It should be noted that in Bratislava a meeting was held between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan Zohrab Mnatsakanyan Elmar Mammadyarov with the mediation of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. Following the meeting, the heads of delegations of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries issued a statement emphasizing a firm commitment to mediation in the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.