In an interview with Voice of America, former U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, outgoing Ambassador James Warlick said the status of Nagorno-Karabakh is a primary issue, adding that it can’t be considered a subject that was closed after the war and that it will be impossible to talk about strong stability without a settlement.
According to him, the parties are currently taking small steps to try to establish mutual confidence, and the recent return of prisoners of war from Azerbaijan to Armenia and Armenia’s transfer of mine maps to Azerbaijan can be considered in this context.
Warlick added that the international community needs to take as step back in an attempt to settle the issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh with the help of the Minsk Group, and nobody should think that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is settled through the war.
American analyst, alumnus of the University of Harvard Daniel Shapiro, who is a Fullbright scholar, also agrees with the former U.S. diplomat. According to him, after the 44-day war, the West was pushed away from the processes unfolding in the South Caucasus, the last of which is the 3+2 format, which leaves Armenia alone with Turkey, Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran, which don’t share Armenia’s interests.
Responding to the Aliyev-Pashinyan meeting in Brussels, Shapiro stated that the United States and the European Union need to play a more active role in the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan and Armenia-Turkey relations in order to return to the region.
Commenting on the Pashinyan-Aliyev meetings, Warlick emphasized that the important thing is that the parties meet face-to-face and added that the format is secondary.
Warlick also reminded that the leaders of the two countries had absolutely no contact before the 44-day war.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has welcomed Armenia’s and Turkey’s actions to normalize the relations between the two countries.
While Aliyev and Pashinyan were meeting under the auspices of President of the European Council Charles Michel in Brussels, Turkey’s Foreign Minister declared that Ankara and Yerevan will appoint special envoys to discuss and settle the issues between the two countries.
Yerevan responded positively to this statement. Welcoming Cavusoglu’s statement, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Vahan Hunanyan stated that Armenia is ready to establish relations with Turkey without preconditions.
In his statement, Mevlut Cavusoglu had also stated that direct air communication between Yerevan and Istanbul will be opened in the near future.