YEREVAN.-  Official Baku is losing the chance to have Azerbaijani community in Karabakh because of maximalist position, Armenian political analyst Richard Giragosian believes.

Involvement of the Karabakh side in talks would have been advantageous to Azerbaijan, he said during the discussion on Karabakh elections.

“In this case Baku could claim for settlement of the Azerbaijani community in Nagorno-Karabakh, thus devaluating status of the incumbent Karabakh authorities. Baku is not doing so, creating favorable conditions for Karabakh,” said Giragosian who heads Yerevan-based Regional Studies Center think tank.

Giragosian noted that after meetings with Azerbaijani analysts he concluded that reluctance to cooperate with Armenia can be partially explained by Baku’s feeling of being betrayed by Turkey after Ankara launched normalization initiative with Yerevan.

“The parties must have a chance to clarify positions. It is not happening now. During their meetings the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan tackle only two problems – where to sit and whether to drink coffee or tea,” he emphasized.

Nevertheless, status quo is politically beneficial to Karabakh but it is the result of Azerbaijan’s errors, not Armenia’s diplomacy.

Photo by Sona Barseghyan