MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI: "ONLY WAY FOR SOLUTION TO THE NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT IS DIRECT NEGOTIATION BETWEEN AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA WITHOUT MEDIATORS"

APA
Dec 23 2009
Azerbaijan

Tbilisi – APA. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili sees the way
of solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict through the direct
negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia without participation
of mediators.

Saakashvili told Russian Echo Moskvi Radio that he doesn’t share
optimist statements by the European diplomats about the solution to
the conflict. "First I heard the statements like "we are very close to
the solution to the conflict" for many times and I always guessed that
they tried to represent dreams as the truth. This is very difficult
problem and main key-holder of the problem is Russia. Of course,
there are objective problems such Armenia and Azerbaijan. But all
problems have only solution recipe – direct negotiations between the
countries and observing the norms of international law in the processes
of negotiations and settlement, as well as securing the people returned
to their homeland and respecting the sovereignty of the countries".

Mikheil Saakashvili said probability of the worsening the situation
always existed while there was no change in the situation. "The
countries should start direct negotiations, establish dialogue between
the peoples to change the situation positively. Turkish-Armenian
negotiations could be an example for that and of course, these
negotiations should be coordinated with Azerbaijan. But in any case,
the dialogue is a good way and has positive progress. If the people
begin to establish dialogue and commercial relations, it means that
there are some prospects. If there are no mine fields and thorny wires,
the people can solve their problems sometimes without participation of
their governments. But we are face-to-face with the situation now. I
wouldn’t call this situation "status-quo". It needs to be more careful
to avoid complication of the situation".