Thomas de Waal: Current year may be crucial for Nagorno-Karabakh process

The current year may be crucial for the Nagorno-Karabakh process, the expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, English journalist and author of the book "Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War" Thomas de Waal said.

"I believe the announcement by the three presidents in Deauville was the most significant declaration on the Karabakh conflict for many years", he said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will meet in Kazan in late June. This will be the ninth tripartite meeting between the presidents of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia.

The meeting held in Sochi on March 5 was the 8th tripartite meeting of the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia.

Astrakhan hosted a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia - Ilham Aliyev, Dmitry Medvedev and Serzh Sargsyan on Oct. 27. The parties signed a declaration envisaging the return of POWs. It is of humanitarian nature.

The Basic Principles document has now been under discussion for more than five years and, as the presidents say, continued delay over agreeing on a short framework agreement raises questions as to whether the presidents are genuinely committed to a peaceful deal for Karabakh, he said.

Russia, France and the United States obviously believe that the time has come to move forward, the expert said. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, U.S President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to demonstrate the political will and to finalize the basic principles [the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh] during the upcoming Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in June.

This year could be crucial while there is agreement among the three big nations and before an election cycle begins," he said.


/Trend/