Ahead of Upcoming Meeting of Foreign Ministers, Baku Will Attempt to Use 'Allies' Against Armenia

The OSCE press service has responded to inquiries from Azerbaijani media regarding the upcoming meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Of course, no further details have been disclosed, and the OSCE has indicated that they will inform about the date and location of the meeting a few days before it takes place.

This news is not intrinsically intriguing since, following the last meeting in Washington in June, it was already known both about the preparation for a new meeting and the potential timeframe for its occurrence—at the end of September during the UN General Assembly in New York.

In this sense, the information regarding the upcoming meeting is not unexpected or new. What is more significant is the question of what content the potential meeting will encompass, particularly after the historic speech delivered by Armenia's leader in Stepanakert on August 5, which provoked dissatisfaction in Baku. It was hardly a surprise that Baku would express discontent over that speech. The question is, what kind of reaction has that speech provoked in the international arena and among the co-chairs?

Here lies the main intrigue of the forthcoming meeting—the behavior of the co-chairs in response to Baku's dissatisfaction, as until now, the three co-chairs have not reacted in any way to the Stepanakert address. Although there has been neither a negative nor positive response so far, this silence in the context of diplomatic-political practice carries a positive nuance in itself.

The issue here is, of course, not merely the response nor the context of that response as to whether it approves of the Prime Minister of Armenia's speech and the new approaches articulated therein. The real concern is what kind of working environment this speech has created for Armenia.

In this regard, the overall silent stance of the co-chairs towards Baku's grievances suggests that they are at least open to working with Armenia regarding the approaches raised in Stepanakert. It may also be necessary to remember how this speech was perceived in the external environment, receiving a, so to speak, dissatisfied reception—certainly apart from Baku.

The Prime Minister of Armenia's speech garnered clear dissatisfaction from certain Russian media-expert circles. This indicates that ahead of the upcoming meeting of the foreign ministers, Baku will attempt to utilize 'allies' to carry out an information and propaganda assault against Armenia, which certainly does not have to directly involve the process regarding Nagorno-Karabakh.