SEMNEBY BELIEVES REAL PROGRESS IS BEING MADE IN KARABAKH PROCESS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
18.06.2009 12:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ EU South Caucasus envoy Peter Semneby believes real
progress is being made in the Nagorno-Karabakh process.

"It is clear that if you look at the negotiating process, it is
intensifying," he told Reuters. "We had in a month two meetings and
there will be another relatively soon between the presidents."

Asked about the risk of conflict, Semneby said it would be foolish
to neglect it but he felt both sides understood the enormous costs
which would be involved in any large-scale military engagement.

"Even with this very dangerous posturing that we see sometimes and the
fact that the forces are not separated and there are incidents all the
time, the two sides are by now used to managing incidents," he said.

"If anything, the Georgia war (last year with Russia), demonstrated
the risks of military engagement … it was also a wake-up call to
both countries how vulnerable they are."