Ambassador James Warlick, the United States co-chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group, believes that all elements of a future comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict “need to be on the table and under discussion.”
“You cannot choose one issue and take it out of context. There needs to be a discussion of the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. But there also needs to be an honest, frank discussion of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. And there are other issues here as well. We need to talk about the return of refugees and internally displaced persons. We should talk honestly about what an international peacekeeping force would look like and what its mandate should be. Discussion of the corridor. These all make up the elements of a comprehensive settlement,” Warlick said at a press conference in Yerevan on Tuesday during a visit along with his Russian and French counterparts for meetings with the Armenian leadership after traveling to the capitals of Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh.
While visiting Baku late last week, Warlick welcomed the recent statement by President llham Aliyev in which the Azerbaijani leader ruled out a status for Nagorno-Karabakh higher than an autonomous republic within Azerbaijan.
Armenia was quick to dismiss the statement as “self-deception”. “Azerbaijan’s leadership had better stop engaging in self-deception and misleading the Azerbaijani society,” Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan said in written comments to RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on October 18. “The Azerbaijani leader already publicly acknowledged a week ago the real content of [Karabakh peace] negotiations when he said that Baku is being urged to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence.”
Advocating a “full and frank” discussion of all elements of the settlement “not only in private between the presidents and with the Co-Chairs, but also with the people”, Warlick repeated his attitude in Yerevan.
“President Aliyev opened up a discussion on the issue of status for Nagorno-Karabakh. This is something that we should all welcome. We should have a frank discussion about the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Positions may not line up between the parties, but it’s important to put these issues on the table in public for consideration by the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan, and by the population in Nagorno-Karabakh itself,” he said.
“We welcome the statement by President Aliyev not because that is the last word, but because he’s putting this issue out there for a discussion. And, quite frankly, all of the elements that would be a part of a negotiated settlement should be on the table for discussion, not just privately, but for the public at large,” Warlick added.
The U.S. mediator said that they were pleased that the situation along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border has remained relatively calm since the April outbreak of violence in which scores of soldiers as well as civilians were reportedly killed on both sides. He stressed that the United States is “fully committed to moving forward on the path of negotiations.”
“There are ideas, there are proposals on the table that we can work with and build on. Are they everything that each side wants? No. But this is a discussion and a negotiation. So, what we would want to see is political will from the presidents to commit themselves to moving forward with these negotiations. And I am confident that with that political will we can make progress,” Warlick said, expressing a hope that the Armenian-Azerbaijani dialogue will continue at the highest level.
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