30/05/2013 20:56
Suren Sureniants: There is stagnation in Karabakh settlement process
It is obvious that one should not expect rapid progress in the Karabakh conflict settlement, at least prior to the presidential elections in Azerbaijan. Political scientist Suren Sureniants expressed this opinion during a talk with Aysor.am when discussing the latest developments in the negotiating process and the CSTO’s recent statement concerning the Karabakh conflict.
Sureniants stressed that during their recent regional visit, the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group spoke about the need for a summit of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents later this year.
“We will hardly see rapid developments in the Karabakh settlement in the next 5-6 months,” the political scientist noted.
In his opinion, some developments are possible following the presidential elections in Azerbaijan because the Karabakh conflict should be viewed in the context of regional developments.
“There has been stagnation in the negotiating process over the past year: after the extradition of Ramil Safarov: the presidents have not met, while the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group have not made new proposals. That is to say, everyone awaits the end of election processes,” Sureniants said.
As for the CSTO statement concerning the Karabakh conflict, he said there is nothing new in the document, which mentions once again the three principles that the OSCE Minsk Group constantly emphasizes.
The political scientist expressed an opinion that Armenia’s presence in Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is not justified, from the political and any other point of view.
“I don’t see any political dividends from our membership in CSTO. We seem to have become a dividing line in the region as neither Georgia nor Azerbaijan is a member of that organization,” Sureniants said.