BRITISH EXPERT THOMAS DE WAAL: OSCE MINSK GROUP IS NOT ABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY SETTLE THE NK CONFLICT

Today
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March 10 2010
Azerbaijan

Normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations will facilitate
peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, British expert Thomas
de Waal said at a conference entitled "Settlement of the Karabakh
conflict: the real and the unreal."

He believes that if there was no disagreement between Armenia and
Turkey, "the reconciliation between Armenia and Azerbaijan would be
more real."

According to de Waal, Baku is inclined to negotiate, but it does not
exclude the military solution to the conflict.

De Waal also noted that international experts should be involved with
the Karabakh process since organizations such as the OSCE Minsk Group
are not able to independently resolve the conflict.

In his view, EU must also step up efforts in this regard.

"The EU should be more actively involved in the settlement of the
Karabakh conflict, because in the case it aggravates, Europe will be
compelled to get involved in elimination of its consequences," said
de Waal, noting that Europe is particularly interested in production
and transit of energy.

The expert also stressed that the EU has a similar experience with
the countries of the Balkan region.

"Nevertheless, conflict resolution is impossible without direct
participation of public of the conflicting sides," he said.