Pan Armenian News

TIME FOR KARABAKH CONFLICT PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT MAY BE RUNNING OUT

09.09.2005 06:45

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ All sides in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict need to prepare
their people for peace much better if the seeds of their high-level
negotiations are to bear fruit. Nagorno Karabakh: Viewing the Conflict from
the Ground, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, explores
how the Armenians and Azeris from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding
districts live and how they view the resolution of the conflict. Despite
signs of progress at internationally mediated negotiations (to be discussed
in a subsequent report), rising military expenditures and increasing
ceasefire violations are ominous signs that time for a peaceful settlement
may be running out. The brutal war over Nagorno Karabakh killed some 18,500
people and displaced over a million before settling into a shaky cease-fire
in 1994. Eleven years on life in Nagorno Karabakh has regained some sense of
normalcy with a developing economy and elected institutions. Yet nothing has
been done to restore rights of war victims. The creation of mono-ethnic
institutions in Nagorno Karabakh, the destruction of Azeri property, and the
privatisation of land and businesses pose significant obstacles to Azeri
return and reintegration. Many displaced persons have become highly
dependent on the Azerbaijani state, with few opportunities to participate
fully in political life and determine their own future. Refusing to allow
dialogue and demonising Armenians through the state-sponsored media and
schools, Baku has hardened anti-Armenian feeling among average citizens. The
Azerbaijanis and Armenians are as separated as they have ever been. “There
is need to counter the hate propaganda and unlock the potential for
confidence building and dialogue between average Azeris and Armenians”, says
Sabine Freizer, Director of Crisis Group’s Caucasus Project. “This has to
happen before the memories of cohabitation fade and the divide becomes
unbridgeable”. Neither community appears prepared to agree to the kind of
settlement being considered by the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign
ministers in the negotiations sponsored by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). “The vast majority of those affected by the
conflict have been kept in the dark about the details of the negotiations”,
says Alain Deletroz, Crisis Group’s Vice President for Europe. “But there is
no way for any peace process to succeed unless leaders from all sides start
actively selling the idea to their people”.