Analysts and journalists are overestimating the OSCE Minsk Group’s mission. The co-chairs cannot do anything instead of the conflicting parties. They create conditions for negotiations, but they are powerless if Armenia and Azerbaijan fail to reach an agreement, Alexander Iskandaryan, Director of the Institute of Caucasus, told journalists on October 28.

At present the mediators aim at keeping the process going. “If the present format fails to be preserved, the situation will get worse. As regard the agreement on exchange of dead bodies, I have serious doubts it will be put into practice,” the expert said.

“What is going on now is actually Azerbaijan’s more aggressive blackmail on Armenia by means of incidents on the line of contact. The cause is the situation in Azerbaijan rather than in Armenia. Azerbaijan has to do so and it is doing so. Azerbaijan has exceeded all bounds in issuing verbal threats, and they go even further by resorting to ceasefire violations,” Iskandaryan said.

Any meeting with peace initiatives is not adequately perceived in Azerbaijan. “The latest polls show more people, especially young people, seek revenge in Azerbaijan. It needs a response. Baku has resorted to militant rhetoric because it has not alternative,” Iskandaryan said.