NEW APPROACH NEEDED TO RESOLVE KARABAKH CONFLICT
Aliyah Fridman
news.az
Feb 23 2010
Azerbaijan
Daniel Druckman News.Az interviews Daniel Druckman, an expert in
conflict resolution, nationalism and group identity.
What are the prospects for the Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan
and Armenia?
Two issues loom large: the willingness of both Armenia and Azerbaijan
to let go and the readiness of the citizens of Nagorno-Karabakh to
govern themselves independently. Neither of these decisions is likely
to be made in the near future. However, ground can be prepared for
an eventual independent, or at least autonomous, state.
Is it possible to move the settlement process forward?
Progress is more likely to be made by a committed and involved
international community (through the UN or OSCE and other international
organizations) than by third party mediators.
What’s the role of Russia as one of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing
countries in the settlement process?
For various reasons, Russia is unlikely to perform effective mediation,
given its legacy of previous mediation attempts and vested interests.
And what about France, the third mediator in the Karabakh settlement?
For other reasons, France is unlikely to be effective.
So what should be done to reach a peaceful solution of the conflict,
if the mediators are ineffective?
We will need to think about the future in terms of nation building
based, at least in part, on other successful examples such as Kosovo.
A way of beginning is to "diagnose" the interests of the key
stakeholders and proceed with a series of workshops. The workshops
would be conducted by independent professionals, not accountable to
governments. The goal would be a plan for building new institutions
that would recognize the security needs and interests of regional
neighbours.
Daniel Druckman is professor at the Department of Public and
International Affairs, George Mason University in the USA, and a
distinguished scholar at the Public Memory Research Centre, University
of Southern Queensland, Australia.