Armenia vs Azerbaijan

Armenian President Serge Sargsyan has appealed to Azerbaijan to sign a non-aggression pact which he hopes would prepare the ground for continued talks about the future of Nagorno Karabakh - an Armenian enclave which declared its independence from Azerbaijan in the wake of the 1992 Soviet breakup.

In an interview with Euronews Sargsyan said that non-use of force is an underlying principle of international law, which holds the key to a lasting settlement of the long-running territorial dispute.

In an earlier conciliatory move towards Baku, the Armenian leader said he was ready to accept the modified Madrid Principles of solving the conflict. Azeri President Ilkham Aliyev responded by saying the negotiations were already in their final stage but insisted on the return of all Karabakh territories and the withdrawal of the Armenian forces stationed there.

All this meaning that Armenia is ready for a compromise, to give back the areas around Nagorno Karabakh it seized during the brief war of the early 1990s, and also to give the region a temporary status as stipulated by the Madrid agreements the Armenian and Azeri president were handed during the 2007 OSCE summit.

Simultaneously, President Sargsyan reiterated his country's longstanding premise about the people of Nagorno-Karabakh having every right to self-determination, adding that Karabakh was artificially appended to Azerbaijan during the Soviet times and Armenia could not just give it up.

"In Moscow Carnegie Center expert Alexei Malashenko does not believe the conflict will be settled any time soon. An economically successful Azerbaijan sees itself as a South Caucasus superpower, which can use its enormous material, human and military potential to achieve its goals - hence its consistent refusal to give any ground on the Nagorno Karabakh issue".

At the same time, Malashenko does not think a new war is imminent because neither Russia nor Europe will let it happen. Neither will Turkey, which 17 years ago broke off diplomatic relations with Armenia precisely over Nagorno Karabakh. Which means that the international community should show maximum understanding for the two sides' positions on the issue, no matter how different they may be, and work hard to get the settlement process going.

Russia, both independently and as part of the OSCE, plays an active mediatory role here having already hosted several trilateral summits to deal with the matter. In 2008 Russian, Armenian and Azeri presidents signed a declaration underscoring their shared desire to resolve the conflict on the basis of international law. The latest such meeting was in January in Sochi where the sides agreed to offer their own proposals in addition to those made in Madrid.