Neither Side Optimistic About Upcoming Nagorno-Karabakh Talks In Washington

Hopes that upcoming talks in Washington on the fighting between Azerbaijani and ethnic Armenian forces will help resolve the conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh appeared slim on October 22 as the two sides engaged in new battles and leaders in Baku and Yerevan sounded pessimistic.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview published on October 22 that the prospects of reaching a peace settlement were “very remote.” The day before, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said that he could see no diplomatic solution to the long-running conflict at this stage.

Despite their negative tone, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hoped that the United States would help Moscow broker a resolution to the conflict.

“I very much hope that our American partners will act in unison with us and will help the settlement,” Putin said on October 22 in Moscow.

The comments come as Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov are due to meet separately with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington on October 23.

Pompeo has said he would tell them that “the right path forward is to cease the conflict, tell them to deescalate, that every country should stay out — provide no fuel for this conflict, no weapons systems, no support.”

The meeting will take place as heavy fighting continues over Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory located inside Azerbaijan but controlled by ethnic Armenians.

Hundreds of people have been killed since fighting flared on September 27, raising fears of a wider conflict in the South Caucasus drawing in Turkey and Russia, which has brokered two cease-fires, neither of which held.

Ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh on October 22 published the names of 26 more of their soldiers who had died in the fighting, bringing the number of fighters killed on the Armenian side to 897.

Azerbaijan has not disclosed its military casualties. It has said 61 Azeri civilians have been killed and 282 wounded.

Putin said on October 22 that Moscow believed that nearly 5,000 people had been killed cumulatively in the fighting.

Aliyev has demanded promises that his country will be handed back control of Nagorno-Karabakh and the question will be raised in the discussions in Washington.

“I think that now Armenian leadership must be more reasonable, and to commit itself to liberation of the occupied territories. So, our main objective at these discussions will be to find out whether the Armenian leadership is ready to liberate our territories or not, and if ready, then when?” he said in an interview with Japan’s Nikkei newspaper, according to a transcript.

The Azerbaijani president said he would not rule out “cultural autonomy” for ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, where they would have certain rights within their municipalities.

Pashinian said in an interview with Interfax on October 22 that Armenia would accept the introduction of peacekeepers, including Russian peacekeepers, into the region.

Internationally recognized as part of mainly Muslim Azerbaijan, the mountainous territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has been controlled by mainly Christian ethnic Armenians, backed by Yerevan, since a 1994 cease-fire.

Azerbaijan reported fighting in several areas on October 22, including territories near the Line of Contact that divides the sides.

Armenia also reported fighting in several areas, and Nagorno-Karabakh officials said the town of Martuni and nearby villages in the enclave had been shelled.

Reports from the opposing sides are often contradictory and hard to verify.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and Interfax