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"THE SEVEN DISTRICTS NEED TO BE LIBERATED FIRST"
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Oct 29 2014
29 October 2014 - 2:12pm
By Vestnik Kavkaza
Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan agreed to continue peaceful dialogue to
settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The agreement was reached at the
Paris meeting organized by Francois Hollande. After bilateral talks
of the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders with the French president,
the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group had a meeting with the Personal
Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk,
then a closed-door meeting.
Professor Alla Yazkova, the head of the Mediterranean and Black Sea
Center of the RAS Institute of Europe, the head of the Council of
Mediterranean and Black Sea Research, commented on the results of
the talks in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.
"The Nagorno-Karabakh settlement is a complicated problem associated
with a whole set of foreign factors, notably powerful international
factors. The sides have absolutely different positions. In Paris, they
agreed that there would be no attempts to solve the problem by force.
This is important because the problem reached quite harsh declarations
that could provoke a solution by force; in particular, Baku said that
Armenians were living on Azerbaijani lands, while Yerevan said that
Karabakh was primordially an Armenian territory," says Yazkova.
In her words, the territory was populated by Armenians and
Azerbaijanis, it is so interlaced that solving the problem is very
complicated.
Yazkova feels suspicious that a new generation with a view on the
Karabakh problem formed by mass media and school education has grown
in the last 20 years. The expert considers it hard to find common
grounds even at a public level, all such attempts have failed.
She noted: "The South Caucasus is a very complicated territory in
general, there are basic routes for delivery of energy resources to
Europe. Armenia is isolated. It cannot export its products through
Georgia (but after Georgia signed the EU Association Agreement the
situation became intricate, customs duties were raised) or through
Iran. But Tehran will never support the positions of Armenia at
the expense of Azerbaijan, because 2/3 of ethnic Azerbaijanis live
in Iran."
Yazkova pointed out that 2015 will coincide with the 100th anniversary
of the Armenian genocide. Azerbaijan, according to her, will certainly
try to prevent Armenia from strengthening its positions in the world.
The Armenian diaspora, including communities in Russia and the U.S.,
may complicate the situation further, the analyst proposes.
The decision of the sides to solve the problem peacefully is the
most real result, the expert says. According to Yazkova, a dialogue
on liberation of the Azerbaijani districts occupied by Armenia, the
so-called "safety belt", is the most important development: "There are
seven districts. Azerbaijan agreed on different variants at different
stages, including [a variant] to not liberate all districts at a time,
just five of the districts. But today, that is where the danger comes
from, there is exchange of gunfire, there are victims. The districts
are becoming the stumbling block to security in the region."
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/politics/61551.html
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Oct 29 2014
29 October 2014 - 2:12pm
By Vestnik Kavkaza
Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan agreed to continue peaceful dialogue to
settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The agreement was reached at the
Paris meeting organized by Francois Hollande. After bilateral talks
of the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders with the French president,
the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group had a meeting with the Personal
Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk,
then a closed-door meeting.
Professor Alla Yazkova, the head of the Mediterranean and Black Sea
Center of the RAS Institute of Europe, the head of the Council of
Mediterranean and Black Sea Research, commented on the results of
the talks in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.
"The Nagorno-Karabakh settlement is a complicated problem associated
with a whole set of foreign factors, notably powerful international
factors. The sides have absolutely different positions. In Paris, they
agreed that there would be no attempts to solve the problem by force.
This is important because the problem reached quite harsh declarations
that could provoke a solution by force; in particular, Baku said that
Armenians were living on Azerbaijani lands, while Yerevan said that
Karabakh was primordially an Armenian territory," says Yazkova.
In her words, the territory was populated by Armenians and
Azerbaijanis, it is so interlaced that solving the problem is very
complicated.
Yazkova feels suspicious that a new generation with a view on the
Karabakh problem formed by mass media and school education has grown
in the last 20 years. The expert considers it hard to find common
grounds even at a public level, all such attempts have failed.
She noted: "The South Caucasus is a very complicated territory in
general, there are basic routes for delivery of energy resources to
Europe. Armenia is isolated. It cannot export its products through
Georgia (but after Georgia signed the EU Association Agreement the
situation became intricate, customs duties were raised) or through
Iran. But Tehran will never support the positions of Armenia at
the expense of Azerbaijan, because 2/3 of ethnic Azerbaijanis live
in Iran."
Yazkova pointed out that 2015 will coincide with the 100th anniversary
of the Armenian genocide. Azerbaijan, according to her, will certainly
try to prevent Armenia from strengthening its positions in the world.
The Armenian diaspora, including communities in Russia and the U.S.,
may complicate the situation further, the analyst proposes.
The decision of the sides to solve the problem peacefully is the
most real result, the expert says. According to Yazkova, a dialogue
on liberation of the Azerbaijani districts occupied by Armenia, the
so-called "safety belt", is the most important development: "There are
seven districts. Azerbaijan agreed on different variants at different
stages, including [a variant] to not liberate all districts at a time,
just five of the districts. But today, that is where the danger comes
from, there is exchange of gunfire, there are victims. The districts
are becoming the stumbling block to security in the region."
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/politics/61551.html