The West on Sargsyan-Aliyev Meeting in Vienna

• 05.17.2016, 17:21
•  World,  Armenia,  NKR

On Monday, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met in Vienna to discuss the Karabakh conflict. The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of the United States, Russia and France as co-chairs of the Minsk Group.

The Western officials and media representatives naturally could not bypass this event. They mostly state that a spirit of compromise have emerged from talks in Vienna.

However, Reuters news agency reported that ''Soldiers from Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh were killed early on Tuesday, hours after the Armenian and Azeri presidents agreed on the need for a peaceful settlement to the conflict in the breakaway region where violence flared again last month.''

''A ceasefire agreed a month ago has stopped the short conflict becoming an all-out war, but residents say gunfire and shelling still echo nightly, and people are still being killed.

In a sign of continued high tensions, a soldier from Nagorno-Karabakh was killed just after midnight on Tuesday as a result of shooting from Azerbaijan’s side, Nagorno-Karabakh’s defence ministry said'', the Agency writes.

The Associated Press writes that U.S. officials say they are concerned that the recent violence may be the result of each side testing the other’s defenses, something made more troubling by the introduction of heavy weapons in recent years. In previous skirmishes, casualties were mainly caused by sniper fire, but in the past year, both sides have introduced mortars, rocket launchers and artillery to the region, the officials said. 

European officials in turn have deplored the EU’s absence from efforts to defuse the tensions. Even Pope Francis plans visits to Armenia and Azerbaijan in an obvious diplomatic effort, while EU leaders have not made public such plans, Euroactive writes.

But the most interesting fact is that the western countries pay more attention and put more focus on the Russian and Turkish sides somehow involved in the conflict than the direct conflict sides, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

''Moscow, which has sold weapons to both sides but has a military treaty with its close ally Armenia, is seen as central to stopping a conflict that some fear could spread. Turkey - at loggerheads with Moscow since Ankara downed a Russian jet near its border with Syria last year - has pledged to support its ally Azerbaijan,'' The German Deutsche Welle writes.

While the American Washington Post tells ''Yet fears loom of a possible escalation, with Turkey strongly backing Azerbaijan and Russia obliged to protect Armenia by a mutual security pact. Earlier this month, Armenia’s government gave the go-ahead to legislation that calls for recognizing the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh. The government has blocked earlier, similar proposals from the opposition but this time agreed to send it to parliament in what is seen as a warning to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has condemned the initiative, saying it is aimed at scuttling peace talks.'' 

However, despite the diversity of the opinions of both Western officials and the media representatives, all were unanimous in one respect. It was more than necessary to organize such a meeting, and the parties, including the two state leaders, had to finally come face to face and negotiate.