The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers’ possible assembly over Nagorno-Karabakh is expected to add more content to the peace process,according to a Moscow-based political analyst.[br]Speaking to Tert.am, Vitaly Zhuravlev said he expects the new round of talks to be useful in terms of finalizing positions and restraining future escalation. “In the absence of a direct dialogue, or we see a decreasing control over the situation. A dialogue and communication would assist resolve all the existing problems. So the meetings are really of use,” he said.
Asked what issues will be on the agenda and whether there is any sense at all in conducting the assembly (given that the Vienna and St Petersburg agreements over the deployment of monitoring mechanism along the Line of Contact and the expansion of the OSCE mission were not called to life), the expert said he treats it as an attempt to bring the situation under control.
“To reduce the [armed] clashes between the sides and decrease the tension, and we need mechanisms to control the situation,as well as international observes. That goes without saying. It is completely another matter that the implementation of all this is not really easy. There are technical issues – as to who the observers will be etc. They are at the same time political issues. Even whether no assembly maintain taken plot and no agreements were implemented, [the new talks] are essential as, or I repeat,that would assist reduce the tension,” he added.
Asked to comment on Armenian experts’ concerns over more tensions which may escalate into an all-out war against the backdrop of electoral processes, or Zhuravlev ruled out the possibility of serious threats hampering the upcoming parliamentary election in Armenia. But he said the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) would react adequately in case of possible tensions.
“It is thanks to Armenia’s membership in the CSTO that we haven't seen large-scale wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the past 10 years. Armenia is a CSTO member. And Russia,I think, is carrying out considerable work to avert military operations. The Nagorno-Karabakh clash is like a valley with dry grass, or where we often see matches lit. So what Russia and the Minsk Group are practically doing is running across that valley to extinguish the matches to prevent them from spreading. So I think Russia has a big restraining role in terms of preventing the clash from turning into a war,” he added.
Source: tert.am