RUSSIA’S INTERMEDIATION IN GEORGIAN-SOUTH OSSETIAN CONFLICT CLOSES PANDORA’S BOX IN REGION, EXPERT SAYS

ARKA
Aug 27, 2008

YEREVAN, August 27. /ARKA/. Russia has closed Pandora’s Box in the
South Caucasus acting as a mediator between Georgia and South Ossetia,
Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan, political expert, said today at the Novosti
International Press-Center in Yerevan.

"Azerbaijan knows perfectly well that the conflict is being settled
not in the way they have expected, and even the politicians with an
extremist ideology take a different line," he added. "It is obvious
that they hate Russia much more than their Georgian colleagues."

The political expert believes Azerbaijan cannot use force to settle
the Karabakh conflict.

The Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Artsakh, mainly populated
by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.

On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, a referendum took place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority
of the population (99.89%) voted for independence from Azerbaijan.

Afterwards, large-scale military operations began, as a result of
which Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven
regions adjacent to it.

On May 12, 1994 after the signing of the Bishkek cease-fire agreement,
the military operations were stopped.

Since 1992, negotiations over the peaceful settlement of the conflict
have been carried out within the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by the
USA, Russia and France.