LEADING POLITICIANS TO CONSIDER CAUCASUS POLICY ISSUES

news.az
Jan 11 2010
Azerbaijan

Rasim Musabeyov The settlement of the Karabakh conflict will be
discussed in London, Moscow and Yerevan, a political scientist.

Political analyst Rasim Musabeyov has commented on issues that will
be during the four foreign visits of several leading politicians of
the world on January 12.

"The fact that Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan will go to Moscow,
Foreign Minister Davutoglu will leave for London, Russia’s Foreign
Minister Lavrov will direct to Yerevan, and one of the most influential
US senators, former US presidential candidate of the Republican Party
John McCain will participate in an energy summit in Batumi shows the
major intensification of policies of the major superpowers around
our region ", said the politician.

"I believe that the main topic of discussion will be the energy
transitand security of the Caspian and Black Sea regions. At the same
time I believe that the involvement of McCain in Batumi summit has
nothing with Erdogan’s visit to Moscow, Foreign Minister Davutoglu’s
visit London, and Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov’s visit to Yerevan.

Batumi summit will address issues of oil and gas transit from Central
Asia and South Caucasus to European markets, bypassing Russia and
Turkey ", said Musabeyov.

"Meanwhile, London, Moscow and Yerevan will discuss the settlement
of the Karabakh conflict, the normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations and other aspects of the South Caucasus geopolitics. Turkish
Foreign Minister Davutoglu will also consider the question of Turkey’s
accession to the European Union, which is actively supported by the
United Kingdom, the situation in the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan
and Yemen. And in Moscow, Erdogan and his Russian counterpart will
consider the deepening of bilateral investment, new trade and economic
and energy sources transit projects, and the state of Armenian-Turkish
relations", said Musabeyov.

"As for Lavrov’s visit to Yerevan, this is the first visit of a high
ranking Russian official to Armenia after a long pause. The sides
will review the state of the Russian-Armenian relations, experiencing
difficulties after August 2008, because Armenia has been trying to
demonstrate an independent policy ever since. They will also consider
the Karabakh conflict settlement andArmenian-Turkish relations",
said the politician.

"There is no doubt that the three visits are bound together by a common
issue under discussion – the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. In
this context, Moscow, London, Yerevan will consider the situation in
the South Caucasus, the future impact of the Karabakh conflict and
finding a compromise between the resolution of the Karabakh conflict
and normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations", concluded Musabeyov.