What does Ambassador Heffern say?

 The Armenian media  published interview  with the U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John Heffern, who regards the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh one of the six elements of the conflict.

According to  the ambassador,  it does not mean that the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh must be returned to Azerbaijan  first of all. "It is implicit in the framework of the final settlement of the question: six agreed elements state that the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh will be solved by free will. Then the territories around Nagorno Karabakh, except  Lachin corridor, will be returned. So there is nothing new in what I say, " said John Heffern.

Former advisor to the president of Azerbaijan in 1993-99, and participant in the negotiations on the Karabakh conflict, political scientist Eldar Namazov commented on the words of Ambassador, which caused an inexplicable enthusiasm in Baku.

"The statement by U.S. Ambassador to Armenia made ​​me, at least, perplexing. First, the six elements as a basis for future negotiations on the peace agreement have not been adopted yet, and  it is a subject of further negotiations.  The U.S. position on the Karabakh settlement was represented by Ambassador Warlick J.  on May 7, 2014 at the Carnegie Endowment.”

"There are six elements that should form part of a peace agreement, if we want it to be long-lasting. Priority of these items and their related parts, of course, must be determined in the negotiations, but they must be regarded as an indivisible whole. Any attempt to seize, retain some elements will  make  a balanced solution  impossible. "

Based on this, any attempts to determine in advance the sequence of implementing these principles are  counterproductive, especially if they come  not from the parties to the conflict, but from one of the mediators.

Secondly, the position set out by Mr. J. Heffern has  always  been regarded  as unacceptable for Azerbaijan in principle, and  that is why  is a deadlock.

In practice it means that in the case of non reticence the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan  cannot rely on the liberation of the occupied areas outside of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Then what is the essence of the peace process and the benefits to Azerbaijan? Open borders, begin to develop economic and political relations with Armenia, while maintaining the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas? It is clear that this approach is not acceptable, and therefore cannot be seriously discussed.

Finally, surprising is the  moment chosen for this statement - the possibility of meeting the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Paris is being studied now. As far as can be judged, by itself such a meeting  is in question, and American diplomacy in recent days by the mouth of their representatives to the OSCE, and in Washington, is making considerable efforts to implement this initiative.

I also think such a meeting is very important, and  I support the six elements as the basis and the beginning of negotiations on the big peace agreement. But I do not think that the last statement of the Ambassador J.Heffern adds hope and optimism in this matter. Although I do not exclude the probability of the traditional "liberal interpretation"  of the Ambassador’s words by  the Armenian media, said Eldar Namazov. -02В-