Washington hosted a conference on topic "Assessing the Deadlock in the Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Process, Breaking the Impasse Series Symposium" on October 15.
The event was organized by the Washington-DC based School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University and brought together some officials and analysts from both countries, as well as the US-based experts.
The Azerbaijani delegation to the conference included staff members of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy.
The symposium addressed topics such as assessing the deadlock in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, perceptions, identity and multi-track diplomacy, as well as improving the effectiveness of track second approaches.
"The peace negotiations that are held between the two sides on the top level bring them closer to each other," said Mr. Elman Abdullayev, Head of Press Department at the Azerbaijan MFA. In the meanwhile, he mentioned, the process has lasted for 20 years, which is not in the interest of Azerbaijan.
Mr. Abdullayev raised the importance of creating conditions for return of the refugees. "The status-quo doesn't work for the needs of Azerbaijani people, especially those who were enforced to leave their motherland by the Armenian occupiers," he said.
Thomas De Waal, analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, strongly urged the two sides to "leave the past in the back and look forward." He said both Azeri and Armenian community rights should be taken into consideration during peace constructing.
Addressing the conference, Arzu Geybullayeva from Imagine Center for Conflict Transformation underscored the role of the social networks as "neutral zone" between the Azeri and Armenian youth, as they use it as a platform for dialogue.
In the meanwhile, the easiness of creating the dialogue between the sides on-line advantages the peace process, the participants emphasized.

AzerTAc