After the May 16 meeting of Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev in Vienna, both parties recorded two casualties, writes Radio Vatican’s website, according to Artsakhpress.

Despite the statements of the heads of both states on the desire to settle the conflict, Nagorno-Karabakh continues to record casualties.

Journalist Francesca Sabatineli talked about this with journalist Simone Zopelaro from the Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Center.

According to Zopelaro, the meeting of the presidents of the two countries was a major step since they had not met for a long time, especially since April, which was the worst period of the war since the ceasefire agreement signed in 1994. Zopelaro stated that such heavy military operations had not taken place since 1994 and that they caused 300 casualties for both parties. The heads of states will meet again, and there is hope that the next meeting will lead to the signing of a peace agreement.

When asked what hinders the signing of that agreement, the journalist said the hindrance is the factor of various internal and external role-players in that conflict.

“Azerbaijan is a country that is rich in oil and gas and where the Aliyevs have been in power since 1969. This family is taking advantage of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to justify various restrictions on freedom,” Zopelaro said and reminded about Russia.

“There is also Russia, which is officially Armenia’s ally, but sells a large amount of arms and weapons to Azerbaijan. By doing this, Russia is playing a double game because it is maintaining its presence in the South Caucasus, and this is very important for Russia. Europe and the U.S. are very indifferent towards this conflict and have never really put in efforts to settle it. Thus, unfortunately, this situation has been prolonged for a quarter of a century,” Zopelaro said.

The journalist affirms that it seems as though putting an end to this tension is not really on anyone’s agenda.

“Let us remind that among other casualties, this conflict has caused the deaths of over 30,000 people, and there are over 1 million people who have been displaced and have become refugees. We can imagine what kind of damage this has caused to the economies, freedom and equality in these two small countries that are also members of the Council of Europe. For that reason, Europe should have also had a more cooperative attitude and should have also expressed greater commitment to settle this conflict. Instead, there is cynicism everywhere. Unfortunately, this conflict doesn’t respond to military logic, but political logic, which is the reason why it is decided to create tension sometimes. It might be politically motivated,” Zopelaro says.

The journalist says she visited Talish (“phantom village”) where all the residents were forced to leave, homes and schools were destroyed, and many were killed, wounded or tortured. Zopelaro also said she had visited the trenches that were also “another impressive view” for her. “All this takes us back to WWI in Europe 100 years ago. Even today, 100 years after the First World War, there are trenches where young soldiers face the threat of death. And this is truly a war that the world has forgotten,” she says.

Journalists have always talked about the Pope’s upcoming visit to Armenia, and Simone Zopelaro has stated that this is one of the few good pieces of news.

“I have met with members of civil society and the Prime Minister. They have all told me that the Pope’s visit is a great hope for this conflict. It is a conflict between the Christian Armenians, who were the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion, and the Muslim population of Azerbaijan. I hope the Pope’s visit is a sign of peace,” she said.

On the evening of May 16, President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev participated in the meeting held at the initiative and with the participation of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group in Vienna.

Among the participants of the meeting were the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of both countries Edward Nalbandyan and Elmar Mammadyarov, Ambassadors Igor Popov (Russia), James Warlick (USA), Pierre Andrieu (France) and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Anjey Kasprzik.