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No significant changes were recorded in the Nagorno Karabakh (NK) conflict settlement in 2016, Director of the Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan told reporters on Tuesday at a press conference in Yerevan, arguing the OSCE Minsk Group mediators have not been engaged with the conflict settlement over the past years.

“Understandably, it remains impossible to reach a settlement at this stage with parties so distant in their approaches, that seems immensely complex to reconcile them. The international community dealing with the conflict resolution has long been engaged with not resolving the conflict but rather trying to minimize the violence and keep it within certain limits. Apparently, excluding violence appears to be quite complex given the adopted policy of Azerbaijan,” Iskandaryan maintained.

The political scientist next suggested the April escalation of the last year came not as new phenomenon, though with a greater scale.
 
“Over the past few years Azerbaijan has repeatedly increased the scale of military actions. Firing from sniper rifles were common some 7-8 years ago, then sabotage infiltration attempts followed. Everything seems to have been calculated, which means we deal with a strategy not a coincidence. In this regard the April escalation was a logical outcome,” Iskandaryan stressed.

The speaker pointed out Azerbaijan has two means to affect the current situation around the conflict.  The first measure is the words, specifically the propaganda and active lobbying in the international structures, that has turned to have been ineffective. The second mean is shooting and thus drawing the international community’s attention to the conflict.

Expanding on the possibility of new April wars, Iskandaryan condition it with the oil prices. “Azerbaijan spent much resources during April. Over the past years the country has spent USD20 billion for acquiring weapons,” explained the political scientist.

Reflecting on CSTO and OSCE Minsk Group statements regarding the December 29 sabotage infiltration attempt of the Azerbaijani forces across the state border of Republic of Armenia near Chinari village, Iskandaryan noted CSTO statement came as an element of influence over Azerbaijan, while suggesting to pay no much attention to the Minsk Group statement.