At the expense of Aliyev’s rating?
Political scientist Sergey Minasyan hails the recurrent meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents in Sochi.
"It evidences that the sides continue negotiations," said Minasyan.
"My predictions that the sides will agree to remove snipers did not come true. However, Aliyev agreed that the peaceful talks on the Karabakh conflict must continue," said the political scientist.
Azerbaijan was forced to shoulder certain responsibilities. It is quite natural that a country which has made bellicose statements for at least a year cannot easily reconcile with the situation as it fears to smear its reputation. Azerbaijan has exhausted all resources and today relies on its propaganda machine.
Sergey Minasyan does not think that the sides may reach an agreement in the near future "as they have diametrically opposed approaches."
"On the one hand, Azerbaijan will not reconcile with the loss of Karabakh. On the other hand, to preserve the political equilibrium, the sides will maintain the status quo as the lesser of evils," he said.
Presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan met in Sochi on March 5 to discuss the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process.
It was the first trilateral meeting of the Presidents in 2011 organized at the initiative of Dmitry Medvedev.
