Opinion: Azerbaijan suffers defeat not only in the battle, but at Vienna talks too

A joint statement made by the Russian foreign minister, the US state secretary and the French state secretary for European affairs made after the Vienna meeting of presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev, and the mediators includes all the aspects of which the Armenian leader spoke in April. This is what the Deputy Chair of the Armenian Parliament and spokesman for the Armenian Republican Party Eduard Sharmazanov has announced at a briefing on May 17.

As EADaily’s correspondent reports, Sharmazanov reminded of Sargsyan’s statement made in April that the truce accords made in 1994-95 must be the only documents to be the basis for further talks and a new truce accord is inacceptable. According to the deputy chair of the parliament, the fact that this was confirmed by the joint statement is also significant in other context. Sergey Lavrov, John Kerry and Harlem Desir do confirm that that the agreements made before are valid in all parts and the Nagorno-Karabakh is represented as a party in the conflict.

“It means that the co-chairs and foreign ministers of the Minsk Group do comprehend that the issue cannot be settled without Karabakh. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s key target was making void the 1994 agreement, and this was the reason,” he stressed.

The next important sign is the agreement to complete in the near future implementation of the OSCE mechanisms for investigation of incidents on the line of contact. Sharmazanov reminded that both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh announced this many times, but due to Azerbaijan’s position the question was suspended for many years.

As for the conflict settlement, Sharmazanov is optimistic about it, saying that the joint statement proves that views of Washington, Moscow and Paris of the conflict settlement by exclusively peaceful means do coincide with Yerevan’s position. “Thus, we can state that Azerbaijan has suffered defeat not only in the battlefield, but in Vienna as well,” he concluded.

On May 16, the presidents of Armenia had talks with participation of the Minsk Group foreign ministers. They confirmed their support for a ceasefire and peaceful conflict settlement. As the final statement runs, in order to reduce the risk of further violence, the presidents agreed to extend powers of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, as well as continue exchange of information on those missing under the aegis of the ICRC.