SARGSYAN NEVER SAID AGHDAM BELONGS TO ARMENIA, BRITISH JOURNALIST
news.az
Feb 26 2010
Azerbaijan
Thomas de Waal "The Karabakh conflict has been a great tragedy for
all those who suffered from it.
This is a personal tragedy of thousands of people and families, said
Thomas de Waal, British journalist and author of the book "The Black
Garden" about the Karabakh conflict.
He said he had studied this conflict for many years, meeting many
people from both sides who lost their husbands, wives, children,
brothers and sisters.
"Armenians and Azerbaijanis have a great common history and culture.
They have many mixed marriages and maintain good relations in Georgia,
Moscow, Iran and elsewhere outside the conflict area. In this sense,
I think if there is a political solution that ensures security of
people, there will not be any problem in their coexistence. I am
concerned with the fact that official propaganda especially on TV
breeds hatred toward the opposite side among the young population
that did not live together in the Soviet times".
As for the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, the British journalist
said:
"The Karabakh conflict will be settled when the sides come to a
conclusion that they do not wish victory for themselves and defeat of
another side, but they do want a mutually profitable solution in which
everyone is a winner and everyone starts to concentrate on the future.
The external powers can promote this, but, in the end, everything
depends on the people in the region.
At the end of the Second World War the allies occupied a greater
part of Europe and the Soviet Union even deployed its troops in
Iran, which was not the German ally. At last they withdrew their
troops. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has repeatedly said that he
does not consider such regions, as Aghdam, to be Armenian. Everyone
knows that these regions belong to Azerbaijan and they will return
to Azerbaijan sooner or later. Meanwhile, the problems that are still
to be settled include the terms of return of lands and the status of
Nagorno Karabakh itself".