ARMENIA GAINS FROM STATUS QUO IN KARABAKH CONFLICT – PUNDIT

Arminfo
27 Jun 07

Yerevan, 27 June: The increase in Azerbaijan’s military might and the
growing arms race in connection with the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict
does not always mean the conflict’s escalation, Aleksandr Iskandaryan,
the director of the Caucasus Media Institute, told a news conference
today.

He said that the maintenance of the current status quo is favourable
for Armenia. Azerbaijan keeps talking about a million refugees
and lost territories but Nagornyy Karabakh remains independent
and all Azerbaijan has are resolutions of several international
organizations. The examples of Taiwan, Kashmir and Northern Cyprus
indicate that unrecognized states can easily survive for decades. "So
we should not fear that Azerbaijan will complete its rearmament,
will build its energy projects and will then start a war with us,"
Iskandaryan said. He also ruled out that international forces will
interfere in the conflict as was the case with the Balkans. It might
happen if the Nagornyy Karabakh was in Europe and can happen if the
USA conquers Iran and gets very close to the region, but this is
extremely unlikely, he said.

Khosrov Harutyunyan, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union
and a former prime minister, did not agree with him. Harutyunyan said
that the international community may not interfere in the conflict but
it might allow Azerbaijan to resume the military operations, saying
"Let’s see how this is going to work and what further developments
there will be".

Harutyunyan criticizes Armenian diplomats for being
very "modest".