FASSIER RULES OUT POSSIBILITY OF TURKEY’S MEDIATION IN KARABAKH PROCESS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
22.07.2009 21:32 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Bernard Fassier of France, one of the three
co-chairpersons of the OSCE Minsk Group, speaking with Today’s Zaman,
underlined that their primary goal was maintaining a "rapprochement"
between the two sides. An eventual decision concerning the final status
of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute could be made afterwards, Fassier said.

With each passing year, the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute
is becoming more difficult, Fassier told Today’s Zaman.

"I very much hope that a war does not occur," Fassier continued,
stressing that last year’s clashes between the two countries, in
which 30 people were killed, prove there is still a risk of war.

In addition, incidents in March involving the use of guns and mortars
brought the two countries to the brink of war, he said, adding:
"Thank God we were able to stop the escalation of violence. If not,
a new war might have erupted."

During the interview, Fassier also touched upon suggestions about
whether Turkey would play a role in the Nagorno-Karabakh resolution
process.

Recalling that Azerbaijan and Turkey consider themselves "one nation,
two states," Fassier ruled out the possibility of Turkey’s mediation in
the process, indicating that Turkey was actually a party in the issue.

"Turkey’s mediation in this process is not possible. Common sense
demands this," he said, while reiterating that the Nagorno-Karabakh
process and the normalization efforts between Ankara and Yerevan
should be considered two independent processes. Fassier, nonetheless,
called the two issues "two processes within the same regional area"
and admitted that any progress in one of the two processes might have a
"positive and useful" impact on the other process.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress