EU’S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE SOUTH CAUCASUS REFUSED TO VISIT NAGORNO-KARABAKH
Karabakh Open, Armenia
Oct 1 2007
Authoritarian countries are often able to settle conflicts more quickly
than democratic countries, but in that case the "sustainability"
of this decision is questioned, said the EU’s special representative
for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby in commenting on the prospects of
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, considering that Freedom
Houses lists Azerbaijan among authoritarian regimes, Regnum reported.
The Regnum news agency reported that in commenting on the settlement
of the conflict the special representative said the elections in
Armenia and Azerbaijan may cause the talks to slow down, however, it
is important to maintain the agreement reached in the talks mediated
by the OSCE Minsk Group for many years.
With regard to the effort of GUAM to report the issue of "frozen
conflicts" to the UN, Semneby said the EU acknowledges the OSCE Minsk
Group as the main organization seeking for the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Therefore, according to the EU’s special
representative, he will not be going to Karabakh during his next visit
to the region. The EU supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group,
and they have to do their best to prevent any negative impact of
their actions on the settlement of the conflict, he said. In addition,
the diplomat declined to go into detail regarding the discussions of
this issue by the EU and the OSCE.
In commenting on the militaristic statements by Azerbaijan,
Semneby said the EU rules out resumption of military actions as a
way of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Semneby added that
the militaristic rhetoric is non-constructive in this case, since,
according to him, it is not helpful to the settlement of the conflict,
undermines hope and confidence, Regnum reported.