(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Rena Murshud read more Deputy head of the press service of the US State Department,
Vedant Patel, said that the US supports direct dialogue between
Azerbaijan and Armenia, regardless of the platform on which the
negotiations are conducted.
Commenting on the meeting of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, which is planned to be
held in Moscow on May 25, the US official said that "direct
negotiations between the parties are of fundamental importance
regardless of whether they take place in Arlington, Brussels or
Moscow".
In fact, these words of Patel can also be interpreted as the
United States' exclusion of Russia from the foreground in the
Azerbaijan-Armenia issue.
As for the reality, the only mediator in solving the
Azerbaijan-Armenia relations is the parties themselves. However,
for some reason, Armenia relies on the West and sometimes Russia to
solve the problem, whose main goal is not Armenia, but the
realization of the Zangazur Corridor.
If we follow the processes, we can see that there is a serious
competition running between Russia and the West for brokering in
the processes of negotiations between the two countries. This is
also related to the fate of the Zangazur corridor, which is
important for communication as well as transport, as mentioned
earlier.
Speaking to Azernews , Russian political
analyst, head of the PolitRUS portal Vitaly Arkov first commented
on knotty issue between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the opening the
Zangazur corridor.
"Despite the sound assurances of Baku that it is not about the
extraterritoriality of the Zangazur corridor, in Yerevan, where
they themselves are used to not following their words and promises,
they express doubts that in the future Azerbaijan will not expand
the corridor through the territory of the Meghri to the current
Armenian Iranian border. Armenia's main fear is to lose its border
with Iran, and it realizes that when Zangazur corridor opens it
will find itself in the "Azerbaijani-Turkish" ring, without access
to both Iran and the conventional border with Azerbaijan," the
political analyst said.
Regarding the security of the Zangazur corridor, the expert
emphasized that it is feasible through controlling by Azerbaijan as
anti-Azerbaijan sentiment is high in Yerevan. However, according to
the expert, the Iranian factor is an unavoidbale obstacle here.
"The Zangazur corridor is important for Azerbaijan. Both from
logistical and political point of views. However, in the context of
the ongoing tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Yerevan cannot
objectively guarantee the complete safety of the movement of goods
and people along the transport artery. Azerbaijan's taking upon
itself the issue of ensuring the security of the Zangazur corridor
causes completely predictable fears, firstly, in Armenia itself
and, secondly, in neighboring Iran," Arkov said.
As for Iran's contradictory position regarding Zangazur, the
Russian expert commented on it as follows:
"I think Iran actively opposes the Zangazur corridor. Firstly,
even without the extraterritoriality of this transport route, this
will complicate non-transparent contacts between Tehran and
Yerevan. Secondly, the launch of the project will allow Azerbaijan
to abandon the forced land transit with Nakhichevan (and further
Turkiye) through Iranian territory, which will deprive Tehran of
one of the levers of pressure on Baku; now the regime in Iran is
actively using it. Thirdly, this will significantly strengthen the
positions in the region of both Azerbaijan and Turkiye," the expert
added.
The expert also added that Zangazur is the most important point
for the West. However, according to Arkov, the West alone is not
capable of neutralizing both Armenia and Iran.
"I think that Russia, which is closer to the region, can be a
more decisive party in this matter. Also, peacekeeping units are
currently operating in Karabakh. I believe that Russian
peacekeepers can control the opening of the Zangezur Corridor
together with Azerbaijan. Also, the presence of peacekeepers there
will have a positive impact on relations with Iran at least keeping
in a neutral state," the expert concluded.
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Follow Rena Murshud on Twitter: @r enatagiyeva