ICG's report sparks interest of Baku analysts

The International Crisis Group (ICG) has released a report on the prospects for Baku-Yerevan negotiation process on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. The start of the talks does not yet mean that they will bring results; there are difficult points not mentioned in the ICG's report, Baku analysts have noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 6, a meeting of the Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliev, with the Armenian Premier, Nikol Pashinyan, took place in Brussels. As a result of the talks, both parties agreed to set up, by the end of April, a bilateral commission for delimiting the mutual borders, and to start drafting a peace agreement.

On April 22, the ICG released its report entitled "Nagorno-Karabakh: In search of road to peace in the shadow of the Ukrainian war". The report concludes that amid the special operation in Ukraine and a tense situation in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2022, there were also fears that hostilities would resume in Nagorno-Karabakh. However, a possibility of achieving peace is not ruled out.

The report states the readiness of Baku and Yerevan to proceed to peace talks. "Declarations of intent are positive, but far from being sufficient. Finding a way to greater stability will require the concerted efforts of Russia, the Western powers and Turkey, despite the deepening differences <...>. However difficult it may be, the parties must work together; otherwise the existing opportunities will be missed; and the peoples of the region will face a new conflict outbreak," the ICG's report has summed up.

In his comment on the ICG's report, Tofig Zulfugarov, a former diplomat, has noted, in particular, that "the start of the negotiation process does not mean that any results will be achieved."

Ilgar Velizade, a political analyst, has positively assessed the statements about the groups set up to discuss the two countries' existing controversial issues. However, he has noted that the list of topics suggested by the ICG fails to include the issue of exclaves. The border delimitation, as he suggested, may be postponed, in particular, due to the historically disputed areas, which can become a brake to the normalization of the two countries' relations.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 27, 2022 at 05:37 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.