Despite not seeing substantial changes in the negotiation process over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Russian political scientist Stanislav Tarasov considers 2017 positive in a sense that no escalation of the conflict happened and the April of 2016 was not repeated.
Russian political scientist doesn’t predict escalation of situation in Artsakh-Azerbaijan border in future
STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 16, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS:According to him, in 2017 the negotiation process was moving forward with a quite difficulty: what is necessary to the sides at this stage is the new negotiation format.
“Yes, during this time a number of new conditions, some mutual concession options were proposed, but, in any case, the main subject that is talked about during the negotiations is the implementation of the Vienna and St. Petersburg agreements,” the political scientist told Armenpress, once again stressing that Stepanakert’s involvement in the negotiation process is desirable.
“Even if an agreement is signed over the implementation of these agreements, it would be impossible to implement them without Stepanakert’s involvement both at the technical and other levels. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, as mediators, conduct diplomacy between Baku and Yerevan and they also visit Stepanakert, in other words, if we pass from the diplomatic language to an ordinary one, it means that they actually recognize Stepanakert as a party to the conflict, and they should also hold negotiations with it,” he said.
According to the Russian political scientist, president Ilham Aliyev, in connection with the upcoming presidential elections in Azerbaijan, wants to keep the positions of the negotiator and not to cross the red line. That’s why the political scientist doesn’t predict serious escalation of the situation in the future.
“The ongoing internal political processes in Azerbaijan are not so easy. The West doesn’t welcome the idea of “forever leader” as it wants to see a concrete democratic process,” Stanislav Tarasov said, once again stating that the negotiations should be held at relatively stable situation.
“It’s impossible to hold negotiations and open fire at the same time: this is not normal,” he said.
