AZG Armenian Daily #137, 22/07/2006

Opinion

ARMENIAN POLITICAL EXPERTS DISCUSS ISSUE OF NAGORNO KARABAKH PEACEFUL
SETTLEMENT

The Conflict and Peace Research Armenian Association initiated a
political experts’ dedicated to the discussion of the recent statement
by OSCE MG Co-Chair Matthew Bryza. Khachik Galstian, Head of the
Association, gave a positive evaluation to the settlement project. He
said that the new suggestions by the OSCE MG are meant to settle the
contradictions in the principles for the self-determination of the
nations and the territorial integrity of the states.

Mr. Galstian believes that it is impossible to reach that within
the project’s framework, as it does not emphasize the priority to
the determination of Nagorno Karabakh’s status. Stephan Grigorian,
a political expert, noted that in the program the cessations
by Armenia and Azerbaijan are not balanced: the Armenians receive
nothing in exchange of withdrawing the military forces and returning
Azeri refugees. Galstain stated that the weak point in the settlement
scheme is the issue of considering and imposing the deployment of the
peace keeping forces in the zone of the conflict. The cornerstone of
the issue is the very formula for these forces formation that may
yield unexpected results in cases they are not perfect. Moreover,
the deployment of the peacekeepers may break the current balance of
the forces based on solely the political will of the sides in conflict
for peaceful settlement. In his turn Aleksander Manasian, political
expert, stated that the co-sponsors of the peaceful settlement
process see the settlement only at political layer, as they consider
that from solely the political viewpoint. He added that the Azeri
side that put the stress on the issue of Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity misled the international organizations. As a result,
it’s impossible to find the solution to the given problem. While
Stepan Grigorian, political expert, emphasized the importance of the
settlement of conflicts in Montenegro and soon in Kosovo, when the two
international basic principles are considered in the same context and
at a same level. Aleksander Iskandarian , Head of the Caucasian Mass
media Institute, stated that "the whole expertise of the problem is
through and this is no intellectual problem any longer." He added
that the conflict may be settled only politically and depends on
the international political developments. Manvel Sargsian, said that
disclosure of the settlement scheme is a kind of an attempt to exert
pressure on the parties.