Why Doesn't Kerry See the Opportunity for Karabakh Conflict Resolution?

• 10.10.2016, 15:58
• Liana Hovhannisyan
•  America,  "Insight" Analytical Center ,  World,  NKR

In the annual Washington Ideas Forum, the US State Secretary John Kerry referred to the Karabakh conflict noting that in case of some frozen conflicts, including also Karabakh conflict, he did not see the opportunity for a resolution, as "the leaders are not ready for that."

The statement of the US State Secretary became a topic of wide discussion in various countries both in media and official circles. In spite of different opinions, the statement of the US State Secretary cannot be considered something unusual if viewed from the following perspective.

What does it mean "leaders are not ready" and what are the factors that can determine readiness of the leaders. Of course, those factors are many; however the most important among them can be considered the readiness of the societies.  

In case of Karabakh conflict, when there have been no or no sufficient, necessary  steps to build trust between the societies, to put it mildly, it will be illogical to speak about their readiness. Moreover, after the April war it is not even realistic to raise such an issue and to expect any progress in that.

From this perspective we can state that the call of the US State Secretary first of all was addressed to the Azerbaijani current government, which has been consistently refusing the suggestions aimed at strengthening the confidence among the conflicting sides (among them also the suggestions made by various US officials). Instead, the Azerbaijani authorities continue to make the gap of distrust among the societies even larger by their anti-Armenian and military actions and rhetoric. Perhaps, this can explain the fact that the Azerbaijani sides took Kerry’s statement too emotionally as it is obvious who the real addressee of the statement is.