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EXPERT: OSCE MG CO-CHAIR COUNTRIES TRY TO CONTROL KARABAKH PROCESS INSTEAD OF RESOLVING CONFLICT
Trend
Jan 23 2012
Azerbaijan
There is almost no chance of progress on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
resolution this year, Thomas de Waal, expert at the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace, British journalist and author of the book
"Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War", believes.
"Neither side seems prepared to change its position on the draft
agreement that was rejected in Kazan last June," Thomas de Waal said.
He said there are a number of 20th anniversaries this year which will
increase skepticism about the peace process around Nagorno Karabakh
and the value of making peace with the other side in the conflict.
"I am thinking for example of the 20th anniversary of the Khojali
killings and of the formation of the Minsk Group in 1992. Moreover,
all of the three co-chair countries have presidential elections and
the political elite will be distracted by that process," he said.
"That means that 2012 will be a year when the mediators will hope
to manage the conflict but will not hope to solve it," Thomas de
Waal said.
A trilateral meeting between Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian
presidents will be held in Sochi on Jan.23.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno- Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. -
are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.
Trend
Jan 23 2012
Azerbaijan
There is almost no chance of progress on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
resolution this year, Thomas de Waal, expert at the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace, British journalist and author of the book
"Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War", believes.
"Neither side seems prepared to change its position on the draft
agreement that was rejected in Kazan last June," Thomas de Waal said.
He said there are a number of 20th anniversaries this year which will
increase skepticism about the peace process around Nagorno Karabakh
and the value of making peace with the other side in the conflict.
"I am thinking for example of the 20th anniversary of the Khojali
killings and of the formation of the Minsk Group in 1992. Moreover,
all of the three co-chair countries have presidential elections and
the political elite will be distracted by that process," he said.
"That means that 2012 will be a year when the mediators will hope
to manage the conflict but will not hope to solve it," Thomas de
Waal said.
A trilateral meeting between Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian
presidents will be held in Sochi on Jan.23.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno- Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. -
are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.