ArmenPress
Sept 22 2004

RESPONSIBILITY FOR KARABAGH RESOLUTION LIES WITH ARMENIA AND
AZERBAIJAN, US MINSK GROUP CHAIRMAN SAYS

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS: In a Monday interview with the
Russian Service of the BBC, Steven Mann, the US cochairman of the
OSCE Minsk Group, said both Armenia and Azerbaijan are experiencing
now a bigger domestic stability, giving the Minsk Group a good
opportunity to resume the conflict’s scrutiny.
According to Mann, after presidential elections in both countries
there are now all possibilities for resuming talks. In response to a
question about the existence of political will in both capitals, Mann
said the Group met with Robert Kocharian of Armenia and Ilham Aliyev
of Azerbaijan on the sidelines of a CIS summit in Kazakhstan to try
to assess it.
“We are telling both sides that the time is not on their side and
the longer the resolution is protracted the worse,” he said,
explaining that Armenia it is being left out of virtually all
regional projects. “New pipelines, highways and railways are being
built detouring Armenia and depriving it of possible economic
benefits. The country is paying a big cost for maintaining its army,’
he said.
“As to Azerbaijan, a significant portion of its land is under
occupation and there is almost a million of refugees and displaced
persons and the longer the conflict drags on the more chances that it
will transform into a constant state of affairs that does not suit
this country,” Mann said.
According to him, there are two more negative aspects of the
conflict. The first is that a generation of young men and women is
growing in both countries looking at the opposite side as an enemy
and the second is that the stalemate situation promotes development
of radical feelings. “The longer the absence of progress the more are
chances for radicals to come to power in 5, 10 or 15 years,” he said.
Steven Mann then called on political leaders in both countries,
including also the opposition, to unite efforts for legitimizing the
idea of negotiations, the idea of a compromised solution and to
encourage dialogue, which he said is in the strategic interests of
all the sides.
In conclusion Mann said the Minsk Group is not mandated to impose
a resolution , neither to act a judge between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
but to create an environment in which both sides could conduct
serious peace talks and help them to arrive at a mutually acceptable
peace formula. “The responsibility for the conflict solution lies
with Armenia and Azerbaijan and this fundamental approach cannot be
dodged ,” he said, adding that the governments of Russia, France and
USA, the Minsk Group cochairmen countries, are genuinely interested
in the regulation of the conflict. “We shall do everything in our
power to support the final decision of the sides,” he said.