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SIMPLE SOLUTION FOR KARABAKH CONFLICT EXISTS
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
May 28 2014
28 May 2014, 12:10 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
There is a very simple and effective solution to the
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, an American expert
believes.
Frederick Starr, the professor at the Johns Hopkins University and
a founding chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, made the
remark in his interview with Day.Az.
He said the OSCE Minsk Group, which has been tasked with settling
the Nagorno-Karabakh over 20 years, has failed to solve the dispute.
"We have gained two decades of experience in the Minsk process. If you
send a child to study at school for 20 years, and during that time
he learns nothing, you have to consider whether he should continue
to go to school at all," Starr said.
Starr believes the Minsk group has suffered an obvious fiasco in this
regard, noting that the reasons are well-known and needn't be repeated.
"I think the only way forward is the recognition of this fiasco
and defining more practical ways for development in the future,"
Starr said.
Starr further said a completely different method of solving the
conflict should be considered.
"I never doubted that there is a very simple and effective solution
to the Karabakh conflict. It's not a dilemma with no solution. In
fact, it's simple. The only question is the methodology of reaching
an agreement," the expert said.
"It is clear that the occupied territory should be returned. This is
not a subject for discussion."
Starr believes the matter is not just finding way to resolve the
conflict, but to find out in general what should be done following
a peace agreement.
"I believe that many people in Armenia, especially the younger
generation, might one day think about the opportunities that will be
opened to them once a settlement is reached in the post-conflict period
in the South Caucasus. When they are aware of these opportunities,
they will say: 'Yes, it is time to move forward'," Starr said.
He said the endless study of the negotiation process should be
stopped and a broader view of the prospect at a time when a decision
is reached should be adopted.
"The world is changing. Azerbaijan is a completely different country;
it is not the same as it was at the beginning of the Minsk process.
Armenia and Russia have also changed. It's time to find a solution
method that reflects today's realities. Unfortunately, we are stuck
in this very primitive mechanism of the Minsk process and need an
immediate way of finding new methods," Starr stressed.
He noted that Azerbaijan and Armenia are the two sides responsible
for settling the conflict.
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a
conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its
South Caucasus neighbor.
Since a war in the early 1990s, the Armenian armed forces have occupied
20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and
seven surrounding regions.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing
efforts by U.S., Russian, and French mediators have been largely
fruitless so far.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
resolutions on its withdrawal from Azerbaijan's territories.
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
May 28 2014
28 May 2014, 12:10 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
There is a very simple and effective solution to the
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, an American expert
believes.
Frederick Starr, the professor at the Johns Hopkins University and
a founding chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, made the
remark in his interview with Day.Az.
He said the OSCE Minsk Group, which has been tasked with settling
the Nagorno-Karabakh over 20 years, has failed to solve the dispute.
"We have gained two decades of experience in the Minsk process. If you
send a child to study at school for 20 years, and during that time
he learns nothing, you have to consider whether he should continue
to go to school at all," Starr said.
Starr believes the Minsk group has suffered an obvious fiasco in this
regard, noting that the reasons are well-known and needn't be repeated.
"I think the only way forward is the recognition of this fiasco
and defining more practical ways for development in the future,"
Starr said.
Starr further said a completely different method of solving the
conflict should be considered.
"I never doubted that there is a very simple and effective solution
to the Karabakh conflict. It's not a dilemma with no solution. In
fact, it's simple. The only question is the methodology of reaching
an agreement," the expert said.
"It is clear that the occupied territory should be returned. This is
not a subject for discussion."
Starr believes the matter is not just finding way to resolve the
conflict, but to find out in general what should be done following
a peace agreement.
"I believe that many people in Armenia, especially the younger
generation, might one day think about the opportunities that will be
opened to them once a settlement is reached in the post-conflict period
in the South Caucasus. When they are aware of these opportunities,
they will say: 'Yes, it is time to move forward'," Starr said.
He said the endless study of the negotiation process should be
stopped and a broader view of the prospect at a time when a decision
is reached should be adopted.
"The world is changing. Azerbaijan is a completely different country;
it is not the same as it was at the beginning of the Minsk process.
Armenia and Russia have also changed. It's time to find a solution
method that reflects today's realities. Unfortunately, we are stuck
in this very primitive mechanism of the Minsk process and need an
immediate way of finding new methods," Starr stressed.
He noted that Azerbaijan and Armenia are the two sides responsible
for settling the conflict.
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a
conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its
South Caucasus neighbor.
Since a war in the early 1990s, the Armenian armed forces have occupied
20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and
seven surrounding regions.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing
efforts by U.S., Russian, and French mediators have been largely
fruitless so far.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
resolutions on its withdrawal from Azerbaijan's territories.