KEY OBSTACLES TO SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT ELIMINATED: ARMENIAN EXPERT

Yerevan, December 14. ArmInfo. "The key obstacles to the settlement
of Karabakh problems have been neutralized," said the expert Stephan
Safaryan, Research Director of Armenian Center of National and
International Studies at political discussions at the Center.

He believes that the confidence of the parties in their military
prevalence, a higher level of democratic development in Armenia as
compared to Azerbaijan, existence of a strong opposition in our
country, which the authorities use to justify their intolerance,
could be obstacles to the settlement process at the previous stage
of the negotiations.

"However, during the last years, the situation in Armenia has sharply
changed. The country has actually come down to the democratic level
of Azerbaijan. The opposition has weakened, the freedom of speech is
limited, especially on the television, the power has become absolutely
monolith and comes out with a consolidated position on the Karabakh
problem. Summing up all this, one can state that the parties have
almost had no internal resources left to protract their participation
in the negotiations process," S. Safaryan said.

At the same time, he said the international mediators are becoming more
and more intolerant to the protraction of the negotiations. "If in
the course of the pre- election campaigns in 2003, OSCE MG Co-chairs
allowed suspension of the meetings of the presidents and foreign
minister of the two states, now the U.S. Co-chair Matthew Bryza openly
stresses the necessity of continuing the negotiations also in the
course of elections both in Armenia and Azerbaijan," the expert said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress