Diplomat: Bratislava statements of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia  and Azerbaijan - evidence of the relevance of the Madrid principles

ArmInfo.The Bratislava statements of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan are evidence of the continued relevance of the Madrid principles,  Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, former Minister of  Foreign Affairs of Artsakh Arman Melikyan expressed such an opinion  to ArmInfo.

On December 4, in Bratislava, within the framework of the OSCE  Ministerial Council, this year already the fifth meeting of the  Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia Elmar Mammadyarov and  Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict was  held. Following the meeting, which lasted 3.5 hours, the ministers  agreed to hold another meeting early next year.

"In any case, the analysis of public statements by ministers in  Bratislava leads to this conclusion. It seems that Armenia and  Azerbaijan continue to construct their own approaches in the  negotiation process, without leaving the framework and logic of the  Madrid principles. And here the Armenian side of the negotiations  needs to change the situation, first of all, given, in general,  considering harmony between the approaches of Baku and these  principles, "he stressed. According to the diplomat, the basis for  the position of Baku is an approach that defines Armenia as an  aggressor state that has occupied 20% of the territory of Azerbaijan.  In this light, Baku links the automatic resolution of the conflict  exclusively with the withdrawal of Armenian forces from its own, in  its understanding, territories.

Meanwhile, Yerevan, according to his estimates, to this day has not  been able to clearly formulate its own negotiation approaches within  the framework of the same Madrid principles. Moreover, to do it in  such a way that the need to preserve Artsakh within its existing  borders does not conflict with the future recognition of its status.    "In other words, the wording of Armenia's position in the  negotiation process does not leave any chance to have any  expectations on the prospects for Artsakh gaining independence or  reuniting with Armenia within its current borders.  The current  Armenian authorities have succeeded no more than their predecessors.  Meanwhile, steps in this direction are "an absolute necessity," the  diplomat concluded.  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 on the basis of the Madrid  Principles put forward by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in 2007 and  updated in 2009.