Azerbaijani-Armenian talks do not justify EU ambitions

On August 31, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held their fourth meeting in Brussels through the mediation of European Council President Charles Michel.

Michel's statement following the four-hour meeting did not demonstrate any progress in the negotiation process since the last meeting in May of this year. Like last time, Michel named four directions for  bringing Azerbaijan and Armenia to a comprehensive peace:

Peaceful agreement

Humanitarian issues

Border issues

Communications

It is difficult to agree with Michel's assessment of the steps taken by the parties over the past three months after the meeting: "It is gratifying to see that many steps have been taken to advance the agreements reached during our last meeting."

A comparative analysis of the tasks announced at the May meeting in all four areas and  the tasks set on August 31 for the future until the next November meeting, creates the impression of insignificant progress that is not consistent with the EU's ambitions.

No  any real results have been achieved in the four areas, and bilateral relations are devoid of intensity of a consultative nature.

Azerbaijan had to resolve  the issue on communications, which is not of first importance,  almost with the use of force  three weeks before the Brussels meeting, when on August 3 the army carried out the Retribution operation, which  resulted with the return of the Lachin region, the closure of the Khankendi-Armenia border road and the opening an alternative road, dictated by official Baku. These events once again showed Armenia's desire to drag out the process of stabilizing Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. Exactly the same situation is in the other three areas of the agenda of the peace process.

The Armenian society still hopes for some kind of geopolitical cataclysm, which may favor Armenia in changing the balance of power in the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and returning the strategic initiative to Yerevan. In this context, it is unlikely that visible progress will be made before the next meeting in Brussels  for achieving a comprehensive peace.