WHO IS FISHING IN TROUBLED WATERS?

The Azerbaijani community of Nagornyy Karabakh will continue to insist on meetings with representatives of the Armenian community to discuss issues of living together after the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.

A member of the public association - the Azerbaijani Community of Nagornyy Karabakh Region of the Azerbaijan Republic - and rector of the Baku Music Academy, Farhad Badalbayli, said this in an interview with 1news.az.

"It is not known yet when the meeting with representatives of the Armenian community will take place. They avoid it as the leadership of the separatist regime of Nagornyy Karabakh does not allow them. But we will continue to insist on meetings between the two communities," Badalbayli said.

He also noted that another visit to the occupied territories by a delegation of representatives of the Azerbaijani intelligentsia is not on the agenda yet.

It is also not known when this visit will take place. Only one thing is clear: the Armenian side avoids direct contacts between the two communities of Nagornyy Karabakh meant to build confidence between the parties. And despite this, it is the Armenian side that insists on the participation of Karabakh Armenians in the negotiations on the settlement of the conflict.

Armenia also demonstrates similar behaviour in the official negotiations mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group. On the one hand, Yerevan declares its commitment to solving the problem as soon as possible based on international norms, but on the other, it ignores the appeals of the mediating countries to change the status quo, in other words, to withdraw the Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories in order to move the peace talks from the "dead point".

Judging by Armenia's actions, the situation of "neither war nor peace", where you can fish in troubled waters, i.e. use the confusion to further your own interests, suits them. This is the reason for Yerevan's painful reaction to any statement that calls things by their right names.

Another manifestation of Armenia's irritability could be observed recently. On 9 December, during a "round table" in the French Senate, speaking about the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group, its co-chair Bernard Fassier said: "Each version of the document, which is now on the table, is a document developed by us since 2005. Of course, I fully understand the pain of Azerbaijan - the lands of this country are occupied. As a Frenchman, I know very well what occupation is, but it is wrong to accuse the Minsk Group of inactivity. We cannot force the parties to accept the final version. The parties themselves must come to an agreement, and we must also help them to do so."

The concern of the official Armenian circles is shared by the notorious organization Hay Dat, the French office of which formally expressed the Armenian community's dissatisfaction with the recent statement by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair from France, Bernard Fassier.

The director of the Hay Dat office in France, Hratch Varjabedian, says that this incomprehensible statement by Fassier is contrary, above all, to his mediatory role, as it is one-sided and runs counter to France's balanced policy on the Karabakh settlement.

"With regard to this and other statements made by the French Foreign Ministry over the past two months (a forum of historians on the topic of the Armenian genocide in Paris and Turkey's appeal to Europe on the Syrian issue), we demanded a written explanation and a meeting with French Foreign Minister Alain Jupp? to clarify this unacceptable behaviour," the organization said in a statement.

As can be seen, any attempt to call a spade a spade or to understand the true situation is perceived by the Armenian community with hostility. Azerbaijan demonstrates its commitment to constructive dialogue not in words but in deeds, preferring specific action. It is no accident that immediately after the "five-sided statement" in Vilnius with participation of the foreign ministers of the countries co-chairing the OSCE, Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov once again urged direct work on a big peace treaty. That is to say Baku is in favour of immediate steps, while word juggling aimed at delaying the time does not suit it.

Nor does this situation suit the mediators, as evidenced by the adoption of a joint statement in Vilnius on the continuation of the process of settling the Karabakh conflict. The statement reads in part: "We express our commitment to continue the negotiations on the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict. We also note the need to create new mechanisms for investigating violations of the cease-fire on the contact line." In addition, the co-chairs drew special attention to the implementation of agreements reached during the Sochi meeting between the presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in March 2011 on the withdrawal of snipers from the contact line between the Azerbaijani and NKR armed forces and on the exchange of prisoners of war. There is concern about the possibility of renewed hostilities in the conflict zone.

At the same time, judging by the five-sided format, in which the statement was adopted in Vilnius, international mediation in the peaceful settlement of the problem has not lost its relevance yet. And if Baku accuses the OSCE Minsk Group of inactivity more and more often, there are still chances of a peaceful settlement of the conflict in this format. At the same time, Azerbaijan has the right to use other international platforms, including the UN Security Council, of which Baku is a non-permanent member, to liberate its lands.