ANY EUPHORIA ON KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT PERSPECTIVES PREMATURE
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.01.2010 16:15 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia-Azerbaijan-Russia presidential summit
in Sochi is unlikely to yield significant results or change the
situation with Karabakh, Alexey Malashenko , an expert at Carnegie
Moscow Center said.
Sill, according to him, Sochi meeting can’t be characterized as formal
or meaningless. As Alexey Malashenko noted, compromise approach
capable of helping the negotiation process out of standstill could
be developed.
"Hopes for development of compromise approach were linked to activation
of Ankara’s foreign policy and Armenia-Turkey rapprochement process. In
Switzerland, Armenia and Turkey signed Protocols on opening of border
and establishment of diplomatic relations. In exchange, Turkey expected
Yerevan to make concessions," he said.
According to Malashenko, Russia, pursuing personal interests, became
immediately involved in the new game. "Beside Karabakh conflict
settlement, Moscow is interested in intensification of economic
relations with Turkey. Russia aims to accelerate construction of
South Stream pipeline to transport Russian natural gas Europe."
"Yet Armenia’s position against Turkey-Russia rapprochement served as a
reminder of any euphoria on Karabakh conflict settlement perspectives
being premature. In this connection, Moscow had to persuade its
strategic partner of the necessity to show more flexibility in Karabakh
issue. Yet, Yerevan’s unexpected persistence came to question both
Armenia-Turkey rapprochement and hopes for any progress on Karabakh
issue," Kommersant quoted the expert as saying.
Moscow realizes that its involvement in Karabakh conflict settlement
is one of the decisive factors for Russia’s presence in Caucasus,
he concluded.
The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out in
1988 as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the
final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from
1991 to 1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, Nagorno
Karabakh and Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions
of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control
of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks
mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.
The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of
the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks
held through Swiss mediation.
On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country’s Organic Law.