BAKU. - There is almost no chance of progress on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution this year, stated Thomas de Waal, expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, British journalist, and author of the book “Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War.”

Prior to Monday’s trilateral meeting in Sochi, Russia, among the presidents of Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan, “neither side seems prepared to change its position on the draft agreement that was rejected in Kazan last June,” Thomas de Waal said.

In de Waal’s view, there are a number of 20th anniversaries this year, which will increase skepticism about the peace process around Nagorno-Karabakh and the value of making peace with the other side in the conflict. “Moreover, all of the three co-chair countries have presidential elections, and the political elite will be distracted by that process,” he said, Trend News Agency of Azerbaijan informs. 

“That means 2012 will be a year when the mediators will hope to manage the conflict, but will not hope to resolve it,” Thomas de Waal said.

The aforesaid trilateral meeting, which will be the tenth such gathering, will be held at the Russian President’s initiative.