International body official downbeat on Karabakh settlement

Arminfo, Yerevan
27 Mar 04

STEPANAKERT

The coordinator of the Caucasus project of the Institute for War and
Peace Reporting, Thomas de Waal, has told an Arminfo correspondent in
Stepanakert that he does not see any prospects for resolving the
Karabakh problem in the near future.

The sides were proposed a good document, but the chance of using the
favourable situation was missed as the Azerbaijani side was not ready
for that, Waal said.

[Former Azerbaijani President] Heydar Aliyev, who undoubtedly was
politically intelligent, lacked democratic intelligence to communicate
with the public and to explain to the Azerbaijani people the need for
compromises. He simply failed to agree with his society over the
Karabakh issue because society was not ready for the compromises which
were virtually agreed at the Key West meeting [meeting between the
Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents]. Unfortunately, they missed the
opportunity, Waal noted.

He said that since his first visit to Nagornyy Karabakh (March 1996),
many positive changes had taken place. Today, Stepanakert looks much
better and society is more open and democratic. I am happy that
Karabakh is moving in a more positive direction in this difficult
situation, he said.