Azerbaijan’s aim in Kazan was to frustrate talks – expert

 June 25, 2011 - 14:31 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijani officials’ statements prior to the presidential meeting proved that the Azeri leader is going to Kazan to frustrate the negotiation process, an Armenian expert said.

Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan remarked that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs have already warned that if no progress is fixed in talks, they will have to resort to drastic changes, including possible renouncement from Madrid principles.

“Experience shows that similar talks produce no result,” he told journalists in Yerevan. “Armenian side has numerously announced readiness to compromise. However, if it comes to exchange of territories, Armenia will remind about Shahumyan which is occupied by Azerbaijan.”

The expert also emphasized the necessity on involving Artsakh in the negotiation process.

The June 24 meeting between the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, which was eyed as an opportunity to fix considerable progress on the way to the conflict resolution, ended in a statement saying that the heads of state “noted the reaching of mutual understanding on a number of questions, whose resolution helps create conditions to approve the basic principles."

“The June 24 meeting was not a breakthrough, as Azerbaijan proved unready to accept the final version of the basic principles suggested by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs. Instead, the Azerbaijani leader attempted to impose 10 new proposals, thus precluding the possibility of any agreement on the issue,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said to explain why no agreement was reached.