PARIS MEETING, POSITIVE MOVE IN RESOLVING NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Oct 28 2014
28 October 2014, 16:54 (GMT+04:00)
By Sara Rajabova
The meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in Paris to settle
the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be considered
as a positive move.
Fikrat Sadikhov, a political scientist and professor of Western
University, made the remark in an interview with Trend news agency
commenting on the recent meeting of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
and Armenian President Serzh Sargsan.
“In any case, the meeting was a positive development. It demonstrated
the effectiveness of Azerbaijani diplomacy and its desire to resolve
this long-lasting conflict peacefully,” Sadikhov said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan held a meeting on October 27 with participation of the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen to discuss the settlement process of
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The two presidents held a face to face
meeting, which followed by another joint meeting with the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairs.
Afterwards, a joint meeting of President Hollande, President Aliyev,
and President Sargsyan with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen was held.
“As for the meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia,
I think that those pragmatically assessing and making predictions
did not expect any radical changes at this meeting. The problem is
too complex and it was impossible to bring together a variety of
geopolitical interests in one meeting,” Sadikhov said.
Sadikhov noted that the agreement reached between the two sides on
the exchange of information on missing persons, hostages and prisoners
of war was a progress by itself- though little.
He noted that the French president has expressed hope to begin works
on a comprehensive peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Sadikhov went on to say that the revealed details of the Paris meeting
showed that it was a positive development.
“The meeting created an opportunity for Azerbaijan to express its
stance on the conflict, to pass through the most painful points of
conflict and to recall the occupation of Azerbaijani territories. And
in this aspect, I think, in general, the meeting can be considered
as a successful step towards the next stage of search for further
ways to resolve the issue,” Sadikhov said.
The precarious cease-fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia was reached
after a lengthy war that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and
has been in place between the two South Caucasus countries since 1994.
Since the hostilities, Armenian armed forces have occupied over
20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia’s
withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been
enforced to this day.