MEETINGS FAILED TO IMPROVE THE SITUATION
by Safarov

DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
Source: Ekho (Baku), Septembber 26, 2007, EV
October 3, 2007 Wednesday

… according to a spokesman for the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry
who refers to truce violations on Armenia’a part

IS THERE ANY POINT IN THE MEETINGS BETWEEN AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN
DEFENSE MINISTERS?; Expedienccy of meetings between defense ministers
of Azerbaijan and Armenia is questioned.

Meetings between Azerbaijani and Armenian defense ministers failed
to improve the situation on the front. Armenia continues to blithely
violate the truce and cease-fire agreement. "The Armenian violated
the cease-fire regime many times these last several months. We
reported it to the general public every time," Major Ilgar Verdiyev
of the Defense Ministry Press Service said, commenting on the words
of Andrzej Kasprscik, personal representative of the OSCE chairman
currently in London. The OSCE executive said the OSCE was ready to
arrange another meeting of the two defense ministers if they wanted
the Nagorno-Karabakh problem solved. "I do not think anybody wants it
at this point. If both sides are interested, however, we are ready,"
Kasprscik said. He added that Armenian Defense Minister Serj Sarkisjan
had become the prime minister this summer and left the Defense Ministry
to Mikael Arutyunjan.

Sarkisjan and his then Azerbaijani counterpart Safar Abiyev met on
the Ijevan-Gazakh area of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border on September
20. They mostly discussed border control and the truce.

"I do not presume to know what hopes Kasprscik pins on another hope,
but the Armenians keep violating the cease-fire regime," Verdiyev
said. "Not even Sarkisjan’s promotion to the premier improved the
situation." Rauf Rajabov, the head of the Third Eye Information and
Analysis Agency and military expert, is convinced that meetings between
the defense minister are needed to minimize losses, exchange of fire,
and so on. "Azerbaijan and Armenia were recently asked to sign a new
cease-fire agreement," Rajabov said. "Azerbaijan explained that we
already have the Bishkek Protocol. It remains valid and why should we
sign anything else now? A political accord resolving the conflict is
what is needed." On the other hand, it is wrong to expect a lot from
meetings of defense ministers because political decisions are made
elsewhere. "Decisions like that are made at the level of the heads of
state. On the other hand, meetings such as this may lead the involved
parties from the search for a political solution," Rajabov admitted.