AZG Armenian Daily #146, 19/08/2005

Karabakh issue

WILL KOSOVO RECOGNITION PIONEER KARABAKH?

An influential organization in conflict study, the International Crisis
Group is going to represent the UN letters of credence concerning 44
persisting conflicts, including Karabakh conflict. Regnum agency quoted
vice-president of the Group Alan Deletroz as saying that independence
is the only alternative for Kosovo. “That’s our fundamental stance
which is accepted by a number of officials in the UN and EU but is not
supported so far by countries of contact group and the capitals. There
are not less than 2 million residents in Kosovo today and the territory
is within the EU in fact. If you think the world community will meet
the claims of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh halfway
that is, in my opinion, not very realistic”, he said.

The ICG is preparing proposals on Karabakh regulation. “We have
made two reports on inner political situation in Azerbaijan and
Armenia. But we have not formulated proposals as yet. If none of
the sides want to compromise, there will be no peace”, Deletroz
said earlier. In mid-July, the Group organized a closed discussion
on Karabakh issue in Tbilisi with the participation of Armenian and
Azerbaijani experts. According to the Azeri press, the Group presented
Armenians and Azeris a project of conflict regulation that dissatisfied
the Azeri side. Gyulteki Hajiyeva, participant of the discussion, said
that the project did not mention the “fact of occupation and tended
to legalize the administration de facto existing in Karabakh”. The
project proposed to settle Karabakh issue through a referendum.

International analysts think that the recognition of independent Kosovo
will open doors for other conflicts as well. Moscow-based analyst
Sergey Markedonov voiced an opinion in Baku press recently that the
recognition of Kosovo “will put Nagorno Karabakh next to be recognized
in post-soviet territory”, as “Karabakh, among other unrecognized
states, is the one that has organized system of governance”.

By Tatoul Hakobian