Expert blog: Armenian-Azerbaijani deficit of trust grows

In his interview with Italian mass media, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov spoke of the steps to be taken to ensure a lasting peace in the region amid renewed statements of representatives of various Azerbaijani circles about the need for a military resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

Virtually all the major persons of Azerbaijan’s military and political elite, including President Ilham Aliyev and Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov, have recently stated directly or indirectly about a military resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

The chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Azerbaijan Araz Alizade yesterday joined the serried ranks of these people – in an interview with 1news.az he assessed the mediation efforts of the international organizations as unsatisfactory , noting that “the Karabakh conflict can be resolved in a alternative, namely military way as there is no other way that would allow Azerbaijan to achieve the desired result”.

At the November 19 meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Vienna and the December 5 meeting of the two foreign ministers in Kiev, the mediators expressed hope that the positive background would be maintained.

Moreover, the mediators intensified their efforts to keep the positive tendencies and organize yet another highest-level meeting in the near future, urging the parties to refrain from steps and statements that could raise tensions and to work to create an atmosphere conducive to progress at the negotiating table.

To all appearance, Azerbaijan did not take seriously both the process itself and the mediators’ calls. It continues to act in the same style, which results in a growing deficit of trust between the sides and moves them away from the opportunity to reach agreements even on elementary issues.