Ex-Karabakh mediator says launch of oil pipeline rules out Azeri-Armenian war

Bilik Dunyasi news agency
23 May 05

BAKU

“No matter how great the economic and political importance of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline might be, this project will pour cold
water on the military option for resolving the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict,” the former Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group,
Vladimir Kazimirov, has said.

According to the Russian diplomat, the project sponsors believe that
the chances of military action in the region are much slimmer than
those of a negotiated settlement to the conflict.

Kazimirov also commented on the latest round of negotiations [on 15
May] between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents on the Nagornyy
Karabakh problem in Warsaw. He said that despite the continuing
statements about the return of occupied territories to Azerbaijan, it
would be wrong to hope that a settlement could be achieved before the
status of Nagornyy Karabakh had first been established.