ROLE OF ARMENIA AND KARABAKH TO GROW AFTER KARABAKH CONFLICT
SETTLEMENT

STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 25. ARMINFO. The Karabakh conflict appears to be
the most complicated conflict in the post-Soviet area, says
international law expert David Babayan.

Any conflict is based on a dilemma of geo-political and ideological
motives. If one of the conflicting parties prevails in both
components the conflict can be settled quickly otherwise it drags on.

The peculiarity of the Karabakh conflict is that the conflicting
parties have absolutely different geo-political components. Azerbaijan
has a big geo-political advantage over Karabakh – it is a bridge
between Iran, Russia and Central Asia, it has oil and gas. As a
counterbalance Karabakh has ideological prevalence. First it is more
democratic than Azerbaijan. Elections in Karabakh are fairer and more
transparent which has been confirmed by international experts. One
example is the last local elections – in many communities winners were
independent candidates. In Azerbaijan this is impossible. So the
existence of a democratic state (even if it is not recognized
officially) is good for the whole democratic community.

The second important element of Karabakh ideological prevalence is the
historical peculiarity of the Armenian nation as a whole.

Most of the Armenians live outside their historical homelands (Armenia
and Karabakh). So being scarce – some 10 mln – they at the same time
constitute a multi-civilization nation. It is good for one to have
such an ally especially as most of the countries treat their local
Armenians as their own people.

So the Armenians appear to be a unique ideological element not only in
the South Caucasus but everywhere in the world. So the complementarity
policy appears to be quite a natural choice for Armenia. With Russia
Armenia enjoys centuries-old friendship, in the US it has a
multi-million diaspora. The US is building in Armenia its biggest
embassy in the world which shows that this country is valuable for the
West. Armenia has good terms with Iran, many Armenians live in Central
Asia and Middle East. None of the South Caucasian states have such a
vast ideological potential as Armenia does. Despite its complexity the
Karabakh conflict can be resolved – as soon as it is the role of
Karabakh and Armenia will grow.