ARTIFICIAL OPTIMISM ERA OVER IN KAZAN – EXPERT
PanARMENIAN.Net
June 27, 2011 – 13:20 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – The presidential meeting in Kazan marked the end
of the era of artificial optimism, an Armenian political analyst said.
“Preclusion of signing of any artificial document was a victory both
of Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Stepan Grigoryan, head of the Analytical
Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation, told a press
conference in Yerevan on June 27.
“The main obstacles to a peace agreement are the status of Nagorno
Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s demands of unilateral concessions on Armenia’s
part and return of liberated lands,” he said.
According to Grigoryan, the risk of war after the Kazan talks has
increased.
Despite optimistic forecasts and encouragement, the anticipated
meeting ended in a statement saying that the heads of state “noted
the reaching of mutual understanding on a number of questions, whose
resolution helps create conditions to approve the basic principles.”
The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan praised the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chair countries for their continuous attention to the problem and
once again thanked Russian President for his personal endeavors to
bring the positions of the conflicting sides closer.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian has explained why no
agreement was reached. “When addressing the PACE plenary meeting
recently, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said that progress may be
registered during the Kazan meeting in case Azerbaijan doesn’t put
forth new proposals regarding the settlement. The June 24 meeting
was not a breakthrough, as Azerbaijan proved unready to accept the
final version of the basic principles suggested by the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-chairs. Instead, the Azerbaijani leader attempted to impose
10 new proposals, thus precluding the possibility of any agreement
on the issue. It’s not for the first time that Azerbaijan prevents
a possibility to reach an agreement. Nevertheless, we will continue
talks, as there is no other way to resolve the Karabakh conflict,”
he said.