Baltic News Service / - BNS
May 25, 2013 Saturday 11:53 AM EET
Estonia's Herkel: Frozen conflicts must not be forgotten
TALLINN, May 25, BNS - The so-called frozen conflicts must not be
forgotten, the chairman of the monitoring committee of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Andres Herkel, said
at a working meeting of the committee in Tallinn on Friday.
Herkel said the handling of the subject of so-called conflict regions
tends to hit a wall because one of the parties, most often Russia, and
Armenia in the case of the Karabakh conflict, is not interested in
bringing up the subject. The monitoring committee held its last
hearing on that in 2007. Herkel said it is important however not to
let the topic pass into oblivion, spokespeople for the Estonian
parliament said.
"Forgetting and the wish to make the international community acquiesce
to the so-called new reality is the very strategy by which Russia, for
instance, is trying to get Abkhazia and South Ossetia even more under
its influence," the Estonian MP said, recalling the words of Vladimir
Socor who has said that Russia, which was instrumental in the
emergence of the conflicts, is now seeking to take on the role of
peacekeeper and arbiter.
Herkel expressed regret that unlike the representatives of Georgia,
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Moldova, the Russian members of the committee
Leonid Slutski and Vyacheslav Fetisov were unable to attend the
Tallinn hearing. "Unfortunately this too is a sign of unwillingness to
solve these problems," he said.
May 25, 2013 Saturday 11:53 AM EET
Estonia's Herkel: Frozen conflicts must not be forgotten
TALLINN, May 25, BNS - The so-called frozen conflicts must not be
forgotten, the chairman of the monitoring committee of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Andres Herkel, said
at a working meeting of the committee in Tallinn on Friday.
Herkel said the handling of the subject of so-called conflict regions
tends to hit a wall because one of the parties, most often Russia, and
Armenia in the case of the Karabakh conflict, is not interested in
bringing up the subject. The monitoring committee held its last
hearing on that in 2007. Herkel said it is important however not to
let the topic pass into oblivion, spokespeople for the Estonian
parliament said.
"Forgetting and the wish to make the international community acquiesce
to the so-called new reality is the very strategy by which Russia, for
instance, is trying to get Abkhazia and South Ossetia even more under
its influence," the Estonian MP said, recalling the words of Vladimir
Socor who has said that Russia, which was instrumental in the
emergence of the conflicts, is now seeking to take on the role of
peacekeeper and arbiter.
Herkel expressed regret that unlike the representatives of Georgia,
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Moldova, the Russian members of the committee
Leonid Slutski and Vyacheslav Fetisov were unable to attend the
Tallinn hearing. "Unfortunately this too is a sign of unwillingness to
solve these problems," he said.