Vladimir Kazimirov: There are three parties to the Karabakh conflict

24.03.2006 17:34
Tatul Hakobyan
“Radiolur”[ArmRadio]

On March 27 RA Foreign Minister will have meetings with US Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice and OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Steven Mann in
Washington.

Early April Vardan Oskanyan’s meeting with his Russian Counterpart
Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian
Federation Igor Ivanov are expected.

Naturally, the discussions in both Moscow and Washington will center
on the Karabakh issue.

After the failed negotiations in Ramboulliet and the meetings of the
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in Washington and Istanbul it seems that
the mediators do not manage to bring the process out of the blind
alley.

In its report issued on March 20 the International Crisis Group
suggested the European Union to get more actively engaged in the
settlement of the conflicts in South Caucasus as an `fair mediator.’
The report surprised the former Russian Co-Chair Vladimir
Kazimirov. `France, which was somehow representing the European Union,
is an active member of the Minsk Group, one of the three Co-Chair
countries. Besides, other EU countries like Germany and Sweden are
members of the Minsk Group. A question rises: should all the
international organizations participate in the settlement of the
conflict? I think that no better thing could be found for creating a
chaotic situation.’

Those in Stepanakert also consider that no new methods are necessary.

How to come out of the blind alley? Vladimir Kazimirov considers that
the meetings on the level of Foreign Ministers and Presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan should continue, but no mess should be created
around the meetings, by previously declaring the place and date of
these. The Former Russian mediator considers that Parliamentary
meetings should be organized as well.

Furthermore, Kazimirov notes that the noninvolvement of the Karabakh
side in the negotiations generally extends the settlement process.

`I have always backed the view that this conflict has three sides, not
two, and this has been accepted by the OSCE itself. Moreover, in the
1994 summit in Budapest the Co-Chairs were instructed to hold the
negotiations between the conflicting sides, and not only between the
states that are internationally recognized,’ Kazimirov noted.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress