US ARMY EUROPEAN COMMAND WORKED OUT PLAN TO SOLVE KARABAKH ISSUE

Pan Armenian News
18.06.2005 03:29

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On the instructions of Pentagon the US European
Command has worked out plan for settlement of the conflict in Nagorno
Karabakh. The document provides for inclusion of mobile forces,
which can be situated in the territory of the South Caucasus, in the
solution of the problem. A range of talks between military experts
have been held in the Azeri capital of Baku over the plan.” This was
stated by President of the American Center for Strategic Studies Marco
Pren. In his words, one of the scripts of using US mobile forces in the
South Caucasus is their involvement in the Karabakh settlement. Though
Mr. Pren does not know who have authored the plan, he hopes that “the
initiative belongs to more mature representative of Pentagon.” Thus,
the implementation of the plan is the duty of the US Armed Forces in
Europe. Simultaneously, referring to Pentagon sources, M. Pren noted,
“US desire is not to locate mobile forces in the territory of the
South Caucasus by all means. Pentagon does not advocate dramatization
of the Karabakh issue and does not work for forming a base in the
mentioned region.

The important thing is the determination of the mandate of the
aforementioned forces.” The Press Service of the Foreign Ministry of
Azerbaijan reported it considered participation of US mobile forces
in the conflict settlement impossible. However, Azeri Deputy FM Araz
Azimov noted that, in his opinion, at a certain stage of resolution of
the Karabakh problem participation of foreign troops in the security
process in Karabakh is unavoidable. At the same time Azeri Parliament
Vice-Speaker Ziyafet Askerov said speaking of deployment of NATO
peacekeepers in the conflict zone was premature. In his words, the
issue is not subject to discussion at the talks of the Armenian and
Azeri leaders. “There is a large probability that after the meeting
of Armenian and Azeri FMs in Paris the Presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan will also have a meeting. It is known that the talks will
be held over the withdrawn of Armenian military units from the 7 seized
Azeri regions around Karabakh. Only after those meetings the matter may
concern the discussion of other issues,” Z. Askerov said. He reported
that the venue and date of the recurrent meeting of the Presidents
will depend on the talks of the FMs, the Caucasian Knot reported.