France adopts more comprehensive approach to Karabakh compared to United States - TV analysis

ArmNews TV channel's recent joint broadcast bringing together the authors of Security Factor and Between the Lines was devoted to the international mediators' reaction to the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

Arman Saghatelyan and Karen Bekaryan appreciated particularly France's stand, which they said "was much more objective" compared to the United States but "fell short of perfectly meeting the expectations".

Agreeing on the need to take the French authorities' steps into serious consideration (particularly in upcoming bilateral and multilateral negotiations), both analysts pointed out to a lack of consistency.

"Against the backdrop of the diversity of the statements heard from Azerbaijan, they do not - or may not- admit France's mediatory mission. France needs to give a very clear response, i.e.- the official recognition of the Artsakh Republic," Bekaryan said, calling for future efforts in that direction as a real and possible scenario

The United States' reaction was evaluated as more complicated in the light of Secretary Mike Pompeo's recent statement (expressing hope that "the reports on the mercenaries from the Middle East will not be confirmed"). That, according to the speakers, demonstrated that neither the South Caucasus region nor Armenia as an individual state are among Washington's priorities. A special emphasis was put on excluding such a policy stance to prevent both Turkey and Azerbaijan from being encouraged to future aggressive actions.

Instead, Russia's role was prioritized as a key country in the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship format. "We have mutual obligations both in the frameworks of the CSTO and in the bilateral relations," Arman Saghatelyan said.

To rule out a possible conflict of interests, the extremely important role of effective foreign policies was emphasized as the next major step on the international arena (in the face of Russia's mediation, and strategic alliance with Armenia). "That mediation cannot be thought to have covered up absolutely everything not to leave room for future work," Karen Bekaryan said.

The sides also stressed the importance of an "unspeakably close" collaboration with Russia in both the political and information domains, calling for a zero tolerance of negative individual sentiments.

They mutually appreciated Georgia's promise to demonstrate a bilateral neutrality, highlighting at the same time Iran's reaction to the force majeure close to its borders. In the context of the dynamic and consistent work with Islamic Republic, also Turkey's involvement in the conflict and Israel's role in Azerbaijan's military potential were emphasized.

With respect to Turkey, the speakers called attention to that country's repeated attempts to identify itself as a conflicting party. They both agreed that such an approach requires Armenia to adopt moe sold tactics to neutralize the consequent challenges.

Saghatelyan and Bekaryan also stressed the importance of more substantial expectations from the international community. They emphasized especially the EU's spotlight on Azerbaijan's targeted attacks on civilians (also with banned weaponry) and the OSCE's serious work dealing with Turkey's actions (also as Minsk Group member) on the one  hand and the repeated breaches of commitments by both Turkey and Azerbaijan on the other. As for France, Cyprus and Turkey, both speakers proposed capitalizing those countries' positions subject to the EU criteria.