Editorial Comment
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence announced that one of its officers was killed yesterday by Armenian sniper fire in the Karabakh conflict zone. In the meantime the President of Armenia this morning layed flowers on the grave of an Armenian soldier killed last week by Azerbaijani fire. Two more young lives lost; two more families without their sons. The first month of the new year is not yet over, and already the casualties in the unfinished war between Armenia and Azerbaijan are high.
On Friday, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Paris as efforts continue to try to resolve the conflict. The impression from the little that has been said so far on the meeting is that the discussions were useful but inconclusive. Both sides lack enough political will to move forward. They either do not want to, or they cannot. Probably both. It seems that many more young people need to die before the sides decide that they must end the bloodshed.
As Europeans prepare to commemorate World War I, the Karabakh conflict reminds them of that horrible conflict that took the lives of millions. The numbers of those who are loosing their lives in Karabakh is miniscule in comparison, and their are few poppies on the killing hills of Karabakh, but the conflict is equally senseless. No amount of medals and flowers will restore the lives of those that are being killed on a nearly daily basis, or justify the senseless killing
It is important that the new phase of negotiations, facilitated by the OSCE Minsk Group co-Chair countries - France, Russia and the United States - will not simply be another act in a ritual, but the start of meaningful negotiations. The first responsability for this is with the political leaderships of Armenia and Azerbaijan. But the co-Chair countries now, twenty years after the often broken cease fire has been declared, also have responsabilities towards the people on the conflict sides, and to the world community. If there is procrastination they must name and shame, for in the meantime, every new death on the Karabakh killing hills, shames us all.
This comment was prepared by the editorial team of commonspace.eu
