KOSOVO SETTLEMENT IS A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT FOR CONFLICTS IN AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA – AMERICAN CONFLICT SCIENTIST

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 19 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / Òrend corr S. Agayeva / The Kosovo variant of
the conflict settlement, is a dangerous precedent for the settlement
of the conflicts in Azerbaijan and Georgia, Tomas Golz, an American
conflict scientist, said to journalists in Baku on 18 December.

Wolfgang Ishinger, a representative of the European Union (EU) for
the negotiations on the Kosovo status, recently stated that the West
does not rule out that the region, which was a subject for a fierce
military conflict between the Serbs and the ethnic Albans in 1998-1999,
may be divided into at least the two administrative and territorial
regions. "Presently, the US media often reports that the Kosovo
variant may be acceptable for the settlement of other conflicts. I
consider such an approach to be dangerous and unacceptable," Golz said.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to the Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven neighbouring districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement which ended
time the active hostilities. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding the peaceful
negotiations.

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