Thomas de Waal: Time to start debate on ‘difficult issues’ in society over Karabakh conflict

The joint statement released by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs following the meeting between Acting Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov held on 16 January in France under the auspices of the OSCE mediators, included new provisions compared to the previous ones.

The expert community, as well as the and international community specially focused on the fact that the Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs acknowledged the need for “concrete measures to prepare the populations for peace” while holding fresh talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Paris.

“The Ministers discussed a wide range of issues related to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and agreed upon the necessity of taking concrete measures to prepare the populations for peace,” reads the statement.

British reporter Thomas de Waal, an expert on the unresolved conflicts of the South Caucasus, took to Twitter to highlight to need for preparing the populations for peace.

“Suddenly the mood has changed on #Nkpeace. Very positive statement. Now time to get down to work, involve more stakeholders, start debate on difficult issues in society,” he said.

Former U.S. Minsk Group Co-Chair Carey Cavanaugh, who is closely following the Karabakh settlement process, said on Twitter: “The preparation of populations to embrace any compromise solution has long been the missing ingredient in the Nagorno-#Karabakh #Peace process.”

Commenting on the Minsk Group mediators’ statement, Chatham House Associate Fellow for Russia and Eurasia Programme, Caucasus Survey Editor-in-Chief Laurence Broers stated the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders ‘must desist from authoritarian conflict strategies’ to prepare their peoples for peace.

“Spaces and processes need to be opened up to long-excluded narratives and actors #NKpeace,” he tweeted.