news.az, Azerbaijan
Aug 20 2011
‘Europe sees Armenia as country impeding development in South Caucasus’
Sat 20 August 2011 05:49 GMT | 1:49 Local Time
The fact that the Karabakh conflict still remains unresolved serves as
a major obstacle for Europe’s diplomacy related to South Caucasus.
The statement came from Osman Elmaci, activist of the Netherlands
Christian Democratic Party, former candidate for the European
Parliament and political expert, while commenting remarks by former
head of the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe and the former head of the Swedish delegation
to this organization Goran Lindblad that non-constructive policy
pursued by Armenia undermines peace and stability in the region.
‘The European diplomats keep a close eye on developments and they now
see the key reason for the unresolved conflict in Armenia. More and
more people will begin to think like Goran Lindblad. We say this at
every meeting that Armenia should be put more pressure in a bid to
achieve breakthrough in the conflict resolution. Armenia feels very
calm as long as it faces a soft attitude and refuses to abandon
occupation policy,’ Elmaci added.
The expert said the unresolved conflict encourages views about
increased threat of a war in Europe.
‘The latest `The Military Balance 2011′ report by the International
Institute for Strategic Studies in the United Kingdom showed whom the
military balance favors. In addition, the unresolved conflict serves
as a major obstacle for Europe’s Caucasus policy. Politicians like
Goran Lindblad already admit this,’ Elmaci noted.
Gun.Az