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MIHRANYAN: MEETING BETWEEN KOCHARYAN, ALIEV WAS DOOMED TO FAILURE
ARKA News Agency
Aug 30 2005
MOSCOW, August 30. /ARKA-RIA Novosti/. Meeting between Armenian
and Azerbaijani Presidents Robert Kocharyan and Ilkham Aliev aimed
at Karabakh conflict settlement was doomed to failure, well-known
political analyst and professor at Moscow State Institute of Foreign
Relations Andranik Mihranyan said in his interview with RIA Novosti.
Viewing the meeting held Aug 27in Kazan as certain progress in
relations, Mihranyan, at the same time, noted that both presidents
realized very well that it is unlikely to reach any accord ahead of
parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. In his words, Azerbaijan is
on parliamentary election footing now and atmosphere is too tense to
speak about concessions.
Answering the question about what Armenia and Azerbaijan should do
to come to agreement, Mihranyan said conflicting sides themselves
wouldn't be able to do something. In his opinion, the solution may be
imposed by international community, or status quo will be maintained.
"This may last until one of the sides feels itself strong enough to
solve the problem in military way", the political analyst says.
In his opinion, enlargement of military budget of Azerbaijan, about
which Aliev spoke recently, is "a political demarche aimed at putting
pressure upon Armenia. Along with that, Mihranyan didn't rule out
that Azerbaijani authorities are tempted to resort to force to gain
revenge. When they military buildup reach certain level, they can go
to revenge, the professor thinks.
In his opinion, certain progress could be achieved if superpowers
impose some compromising solution to the conflicting sides.
Otherwise, it is difficult for Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities to
explain to people why they agree to make such unbeneficial concessions,
the expert said.
To the question whether Russia is able to activate its mediation
mission in Karabakh conflict settlement, Mihranyan answered that
Russia is already involved in that and pointed out its activity in
the OSCE Minsk Group set up especially for dealing with this problem.
However, he said, today Russia's capacity leaves no room to do
more than it does now. "Russia's financial, economic, military and
political capacity is reduced", Mihranyan said. As an example of that,
he singled out the fact that Russia has lost its role in Georgia and
Azerbaijan. "Russia is no longer taken by many as a country having
clue to Karabakh problem solution. For example, Azerbaijan expects
more from Washington or Brussels", he said. M.V.
ARKA News Agency
Aug 30 2005
MOSCOW, August 30. /ARKA-RIA Novosti/. Meeting between Armenian
and Azerbaijani Presidents Robert Kocharyan and Ilkham Aliev aimed
at Karabakh conflict settlement was doomed to failure, well-known
political analyst and professor at Moscow State Institute of Foreign
Relations Andranik Mihranyan said in his interview with RIA Novosti.
Viewing the meeting held Aug 27in Kazan as certain progress in
relations, Mihranyan, at the same time, noted that both presidents
realized very well that it is unlikely to reach any accord ahead of
parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. In his words, Azerbaijan is
on parliamentary election footing now and atmosphere is too tense to
speak about concessions.
Answering the question about what Armenia and Azerbaijan should do
to come to agreement, Mihranyan said conflicting sides themselves
wouldn't be able to do something. In his opinion, the solution may be
imposed by international community, or status quo will be maintained.
"This may last until one of the sides feels itself strong enough to
solve the problem in military way", the political analyst says.
In his opinion, enlargement of military budget of Azerbaijan, about
which Aliev spoke recently, is "a political demarche aimed at putting
pressure upon Armenia. Along with that, Mihranyan didn't rule out
that Azerbaijani authorities are tempted to resort to force to gain
revenge. When they military buildup reach certain level, they can go
to revenge, the professor thinks.
In his opinion, certain progress could be achieved if superpowers
impose some compromising solution to the conflicting sides.
Otherwise, it is difficult for Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities to
explain to people why they agree to make such unbeneficial concessions,
the expert said.
To the question whether Russia is able to activate its mediation
mission in Karabakh conflict settlement, Mihranyan answered that
Russia is already involved in that and pointed out its activity in
the OSCE Minsk Group set up especially for dealing with this problem.
However, he said, today Russia's capacity leaves no room to do
more than it does now. "Russia's financial, economic, military and
political capacity is reduced", Mihranyan said. As an example of that,
he singled out the fact that Russia has lost its role in Georgia and
Azerbaijan. "Russia is no longer taken by many as a country having
clue to Karabakh problem solution. For example, Azerbaijan expects
more from Washington or Brussels", he said. M.V.