“The more influence Turkey has, the greater is the role of the USA”
The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan are expected to meet in Almaty on the margins of an OSCE Informal Ministerial on July 16-17.
However, the meeting is likely to be canceled after yesterday's statement of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. Anyway, a RA MFA press release conveys no information on the meeting.
Political analyst Alexander Iskandaryan excludes an early settlement to the Karabakh conflict and says the Madrid Principles are aimed at maintaining the Minsk process.
"The process was driven to a deadlock in 2004-2006. To revive the negotiations, the mediators started the so-called "Prague Process" which was later called updated Madrid Principles and finally St. Petersburg Proposals. In fact, they aim to preserve the continuity of negotiation," Alexander Iskandaryan said.
Presently, the language of negotiations is put under consideration: new terms have been put into circulation, i.e. separation of territories, exercise of the right to self-determination through a referendum.
Speaking about Armenian-Turkish relations, Mr. Iskandaryan said that the USA is most interested in the reconciliation process.
"America gives a fresh stimulus to the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations," says Iskandaryan. "South Caucasus is not of great importance for the USA though it has some weight. Surely, Armenia cannot be compared with Kuwait, Iraq, Ukraine or Russia but at the same time, we cannot be compared with central African countries. South Caucasus has some significance in the international arena. The more influence Turkey has in the region, the greater is the role of the USA and the less is that of Russia."
The USA is for a change of situation in the region. The recent developments in South Iraq, resulted by Turkish-American accord, show that Turkey longs to increase its role in the Near East.
