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 The
OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairmen issued a statement Sunday after the
meeting between Armenian and Azeri presidents on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The representatives of France, Russia
and the US expressed optimism on the progress of the peace
talks, but failed to condemn Azerbaijan and its president, Ilham
Aliyev, for inciting violence by threatening military action
against Armenia and Karabakh one day before sitting down with
his Armenian counterpart.
“That meeting must play a decisive role in
the process of negotiations,” Aliyev said late on Friday, in
comments broadcast by state television on Saturday and in
reference to the meeting in Germany.
“If that meeting ends without result, then
our hopes in negotiations will be exhausted and then we are left
with no other option,” he said, saying Azerbaijan had the right
to use force to “liberate” Karabakh. “Azerbaijan is spending
billions on buying new weapons, hardware, strengthening its
position on the line of contact,” he said.
“We are doing that because we never excluded
and we do not exclude that option. We have the full right to
liberate our land by military means,” he added.
The above statements should have been enough
to raise red flags for all parties involved. If the Minsk Group
mediators truly were committed to the peace process they should
have not only canceled the meeting, but issued a terse warning
to Azerbaijan, which has used military rhetoric.
On the other hand, in the absence of a
Minsk-Group-initiated cancellation, Armenia should have pulled
out from the meeting in protest of Aliyev’s remarks, sending a
clear signal that it does not negotiate with parties that
threaten the national security of Armenia and the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
However, there was an interesting and bold
announcement from President Serzh Sarkisian’s spokesperson
Samvel Farmanyan, who on Monday told reporters that an official
recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic by Armenia was not
being ruled out in the event that Azerbaijan continues its
military rhetoric.
The series of events call into question the
optimism expressed by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen, as well
as the validity of the peace process. One wonders if the parties
involved have adopted another—still elusive—definition of the
word “peace” given that the atmosphere in which the Munich talks
were held were tainted from the onset and before any matter of
relevance could be placed on the agenda.
Was Farmanyan’s statement another knee-jerk
reaction from Yerevan, or one that may actually have legs?
Azeri foreign minister, Araz Azimov, on
Monday told the press and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu, that the talks were encouraging. All sides are now
looking at the OSCE summit in Athens to continue the process, or
the progress, depending on which angle this is being viewed.
The Armenian side has not commented about the
talks, but Farmanyan’s remarks indicate that Armenia did not see
any progress in the talks after Sunday’s Munich meeting.
In fact, the diplomatic back-and-forth prior
to the meeting demonstrated that neither party is on the same
page. On one hand, Azeris said that the focus was on the
timetable by which Armenia allegedly would “return lands” to
Azerbaijan. On the other hand, Armenia called into question
whether they and the Azeris were taking part in the same peace
talks, because the focus, in Armenia’s opinion, was determining
the status of Karabakh.
This, coupled with continued assurances by
Turkey that Turkey-Armenia relations are dependent on the
outcome of the Karabakh peace process, as well as announcements
by Karabakh authorities that they have never been presented with
the so-called “Madrid Principles,” at best paints a dubious
picture of the ongoing peace process.
In this climate, Armenia must act resolutely
and put in motion the processes that are outlined by Farmanyan
in his statement, and before another round of talks between the
“sides” insist on Karabakh’s complete participation in the peace
process. At the same time, the Armenian Foreign Ministry should
also engage in diplomatic talks with Minsk Group co-chairing
countries urging them to condemn Azerbaijan for its continued
military rhetoric and non-peaceful disposition that it has
demonstrated and advocated from the onset of the talks.
Furthermore, until such a condemnation is
issued by the Minsk Group co-chairs, Armenia should refrain from
taking part in the peace talks.
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