Menu
Latest
Menu
Latest
News

"The status quo is unacceptable". Bradtke defends the current format of the Karabakh negotiations and blames the sides for lack of trust.

22 March 2012

The American representative on the OSCE Minsk Group that is facilitating the negotiations for a solution of the problem between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over Nagorno-Karabakh, Ambassador Robert Bradtke, has given a wide ranging interview to Radio Liberty during which he reflected over the last twenty years of the peace process and on the prospects for the future. Bradtke's interview came amidst increasing criticism of the process and its format in international circles.

Bradtke however dismissed the criticism and said that lack of trust between the sides make them fail to undertand that they are closer to finding a solution than they themselves realise. The American diplomat said "I don't think that the problem of our inability to reach a peace agreement has been the format of the Minsk Group or the format of the co-chairs. The problem is that these are very difficult questions. The differences between the sides are very great, and frankly, there's a lack of trust. Changing the format is not going to address any of those things. Those things will continue."

In the interview Robert Bradtke also spoke about the importance of people to people dialogue. He stated that "If you look back from the 20-year perspective, what we now see is a generation in Armenia and Azerbaijan growing up that has really not lived side by side. They have not had the personal relationships that might help them understand better the perspectives of the other sides and that might help them overcome stereotypes that one sees all too often in the media in Armenia and Azerbaijan."

Bradtke emphasised that in the view of the co-Chairs "the status quo is unacceptable", adding that "for that reason, I think that in 20 years we must resolve this conflict. We must make progress in resolving this conflict. We cannot in 20 years look back and see the same situation we have today".
 

The full interview is available here.

source: commonspace.eu with Radio Liberty (www.rferl.org)

photo: The US co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Process Robert Bradtke. (picture courtesy of RFE/RL).

Related articles

Editor's choice
News
Indian Foreign Minister meets Aliyev in Baku
Trending

Indian Foreign Minister meets Aliyev in Baku

23 October 2026
On October 23, the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met in Baku with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India. This was the highest level visit by an Indian official to Azerbaijan in a long time. According to the website of the Azerbaijani president, Aliyev fondly recalled his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bishkek and the exchange of views during that meeting. President Ilham Aliyev highly appreciated the visit of India’s Minister of External Affairs to Azerbaijan on the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stressing its importance for discussing the current state and prospects of bilateral relations. During the meeting, the sides held an extensive exchange of views on the current state of relations between Azerbaijan and India, highlighting ample opportunities to develop cooperation in areas of mutual interest. The sides noted that Azerbaijan and India, as members of the Global South, share similar positions on a number of issues on the international agenda, including matters of concern to countries of the Global South. In this regard, they discussed prospects for bilateral cooperation in political, trade and economic, high-tech, cultural, humanitarian and other fields. The conversation also touched upon the importance of cooperation within international organizations. The sides emphasized the need to intensify political contacts and organize reciprocal visits at various levels, including exchanges involving economic and business delegations, to further advance bilateral relations.

Popular

Editor's choice
Interview
Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov
Trending

Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov

15 January 2026
Today, commonspace.eu starts a new regular weekly series. THURSDAY INTERVIEW, conducted by Lauri Nikulainen, will host  persons who are thinkers, opinion shapers, and implementors in their countries and spheres. We start the series with an interview with Murad Muradov, a leading person in Azerbaijan's think tank community. He is also the first co-chair of the Action Committee for a new Armenian-Azerbaijani Dialogue. Last September he made history by being the first Azerbaijani civil society activist to visit Armenia after the 44 day war, and the start of the peace process. Speaking about this visit Murad Muradov said: "My experience was largely positive. My negative expectations luckily didn’t play out. The discussions were respectful, the panel format bringing together experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey was particularly valuable during the NATO Rose-Roth Seminar in Yerevan, and media coverage, while varied in tone, remained largely constructive. Some media outlets though attempted to represent me as more of a government mouthpiece than an independent expert, which was totally misleading.  Overall, I see these initiatives as important steps in rebuilding trust and normalising professional engagement. The fact that soon a larger Azerbaijani civil society visits to Armenia followed, reinforces the sense that this process is moving in the right direction." (click the image to read the interview in full)
Murad Muradov
Lauri Nikulainen interviews Murad Muradov