INT’L COMMUNITY INCREASES PRESSURE ON AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA TO REACH SOLUTION: BRITISH EXPERT
Today.Az
09 December 2009 [13:33]
"If there is no any progress in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, development of Turkish-Armenian relations will be difficult,"
British Chatman House expert Neil McFarlane said.
He said the protocols require ratification, which created difficulties
both in Armenia and Turkey.
McFarlane said the "genocide" issue was also a serious obstacle for
the Turkey-Armenia normalization.
The expert said he positively valued the process. In his opinion,
profiles of solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are clear now.
"The international community increased pressure on the sides to
reach solution. The question is whether this pressure will lead to
the positive results."
McFarlane believes that the key to achieve peace in Nagorno-Karabakh
is to determine status of this territory.
He reminded that Azerbaijan promised has maximum autonomy, which
included local police, military forces, independent local tax system,
establishing of special relations with Armenia, rights for migration
control and international guarantee for that.
"I don’t think that Azerbaijan will accept this concept of autonomy,
but if the sides are interested in the agreement, it is possible to
find different options".
The expert said he didn’t believe the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh
will resume again.
As regard to Western interests in the South Caucasus, McFarlane said
Americans are interested much more in the relations with Russia
and they didn’t want it to be an obstacle for the developments in
the Caucasus.
He said Europe also had no a single approach to the region.