Yerevan journalists doubt success of meeting in Brussels

The progress following Ilham Aliev's meeting with Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels has been only at the level of statements, the political observers interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 22, President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev, and Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, met in Brussels with Charles Michel, President of the Council of the European Union (EU). At the meeting, the parties agreed to start the work of the commission for the border delimitation, and also agreed on the need to start unblocking the transport links in the region and discuss a future peace treaty.

After the meeting in Brussels, it is still too early to talk about compromises on key issues; we need to wait for the parties' respective corresponding steps, Akop Badalyan, a political observer, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on May 23. In his opinion, in terms of the content, the implementation of the agreements is problematic, since the process is complicated by the parties' differences in their approaches to many issues. "It's hard to say that the parties are ready for compromises. Technical problems can be solved; they can meet, but a meeting is an instrument. There must be a compromise. Even back in Sochi, agreements were reached, but the process was dragged out, which indicates the parties' opposite approaches in terms of content. The geopolitical situation is also exacerbating the situation," Mr Badalyan has emphasized.

The meeting in Brussels has shown that there is some rapprochement on a number of issues, but there are also sensitive issues on which the parties have no compromise, Armen Vardanyan, a political analyst, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to his version, the work is underway on the issues on which the parties have mutual understanding – the border delimitation, the opening of transport links and the return of prisoners of war (POWs). Mr Vardanyan has also noted that the construction of an alternative road comes from the tripartite statement dated November 9, 2020. "But there are still unresolved issues. For example, what will happen to the village of Akhavno? So far, there is no answer to this question," the political analyst has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 24, 2022 at 05:03 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.