ArmInfo.By and large, neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan solve anything in the settlement of the Karabakh problem. Everything is decided by Russia. Azerbaijani political scientist Zardusht Alizadeh expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"In this light, whether the next meeting of our foreign ministers will take place or not is just a matter of secondary importance. It is clear that if there is no war, then negotiations should be held. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry declares the possibility of escalation of the conflict in view of the recent statement by the Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan on Karabakh being part of Armenia. However, in my opinion, in reality, only Moscow can make a decision on such an escalation, "he said. However, in view of Yerevan's obvious efforts to strengthen relations with Moscow, Russia, according to Alizadeh, has no clear reasons for signaling a new escalation of the conflict. In this light, he believes that negotiations will continue.
On August 29, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan told reporters about his upcoming meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov. According to him, the meeting is planned to be held in the near future. The date of the meeting is being clarified.
According to Alizadeh, the next round of negotiations on the Karabakh conflict settlement is the result of the lack of resources in Armenia to legitimize the status of regions conquered from Azerbaijan. The political scientist is convinced that today everyone understands this, including the Armenians themselves. On the other hand, Azerbaijan, in turn, has no resources and opportunities to win the war with Armenia. In this light, the political scientist predicts the continuation of meaningless negotiations as long as it will be beneficial to Moscow.
Since 1992, the OSCE Minsk Group, represented by the co-chairs from Russia, the USA and France, has been engaged in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. Currently, the settlement process is nominally taking place based on the Madrid Principles put forward by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in 2007 and updated in 2009.