The recent meeting of the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan in Vienna became, in essence, the official debut of Nikol Pashinyan in terms of the negotiations over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This is what politician Vigen Hakobyan said during an April 3 press conference.

According to the politician, Pashinyan had spoken about this topic in the past, but he would make speeches at another level. “I believe many people, especially international role-players were definitely interested in seeing how the Prime Minister of Armenia acts, what his position is and what tactics and methodology he would choose in the negotiations since negotiating is itself a rather delicate art,” Hakobyan clarified.

Moreover, he stated that Pashinyan clearly has lack of experience compared to Aliyev, who has been negotiating since 2003 and has gained experience.

According to the political technologist, the meeting of the heads of states was important because there was some interest in the meeting in Armenia, Azerbaijan and the international community. “True, nobody had illusions. In reality, what happened was the maximum that could be achieved and could be expected from this meeting, especially in the current stage of negotiations,” the politician stated.

He stated that the parties had their agendas. The Co-Chairs wanted to achieve something, while Aliyev wanted to “test Pashinyan’s strength” and become familiar with his position on the conflict.

“In essence, all efforts were geared towards the humanitarian aspect of the negotiations, yet Yerevan and Baku failed to advance their agendas and their visions for the settlement of the conflict,” Vigen Hakobyan stressed, adding that, nevertheless, Armenia has no reason to rush since there is no need for that.