«168 Hours». Azerbaijan Does Not Approve Proposal to Make Artsakh a Party to Negotiations - Matthew Bryza

“I know that at the highest level in Baku, there is a new level of confidence regarding Prime Minister Pashinyan's intentions. I know that the highest authorities in Baku want to move forward with Prime Minister Pashinyan on the resolution issue, but there is always the question of whether Prime Minister Pashinyan will be able to effectively consolidate his political power, as the old system operates against him, with ongoing competition and pressures. Therefore, I believe that this issue is currently slowing down progress and putting pressure on Prime Minister Pashinyan,” said Matthew Bryza, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and former U.S. co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, in an interview with “168 Hours”.

According to him, this is a 20-year issue, and when Levon Ter-Petrosyan was close to a breakthrough, he was once again under enormous pressure, which was followed by the tragic events that occurred in the National Assembly of Armenia.

“Then, during the presidency of Serzh Sargsyan, there was also a situation a few years ago when the parties were close to a breakthrough—Putin had presented significant proposals after the April war, followed by the seizure crisis at the police station. The same is happening with Pashinyan; there is nothing new in all this,” he said.

Regarding the Armenian authorities' statements about making Artsakh a party to the negotiations, Bryza stated that Azerbaijan does not approve of this proposal. “But this is a negotiation; in the negotiation process, you have to give and take, and if you want something from the other side, you must have something to offer. I think that currently, Azerbaijan is saying, ‘What will we get if we do something we do not want to do?’ In other words, there is a price that must be paid for this important step. But that is a matter for both sides,” the newspaper writes.

The full article can be read in today’s issue of the newspaper.