“I consider it a very positive development that President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed in Munich to continue peace negotiations,” said international expert, member of the board of the Jamestown Foundation, former U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, and former co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza to AZERTAC, commenting on the results of the recent Munich bilateral meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia. This meeting was the first following the local anti-terrorist actions carried out by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in the Karabakh region in September last year.
Assuming that the next meeting will be mediated by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the interviewee noted that Charles Michel “has a proven track record in assisting the leaders of the two countries in making progress in negotiations on a peace treaty and border demarcation.”
Regarding the recent incident at the conditional border, which resulted in an Azerbaijani border guard being wounded, Matthew Bryza suggested that it was another provocation by those who do not want normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and actually benefit from the continuation of the current situation.
“I was disappointed when Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that Azerbaijan is preparing for a full-scale war, as this does not correspond to reality. I do not claim it for certain, but it seems to me that the recent escalation and shelling from the Armenian side on February 12 were also part of the reaction of his political opponents, who do not want peace with Azerbaijan. So, now is indeed the right time, and I think that Charles Michel will bring the two leaders together, and it will be very positive if Pashinyan actually participates in the meeting. Because this will help de-escalate the situation,” concluded the expert.
