Talks to convene the Minsk Conference is a closed chapter, said Vladimir Kazimirov, the former OSCE MG Co-Chair of Russia, commenting on the views of western analysts in a brief interview with ArmInfo.
Kazimirov said: "We overstepped that thesis long ago, it was unable to settle the problem." He is skeptical about the 'start of a new constructive negotiation process for the peace agreement,' unlike the Swiss Foreign Minister that has made such statement recently. "All that is in the past. There is nothing new there," the experienced diplomat said.
Kazimirov is not less skeptical also about the statements by western analysts who claim that the Karabakh conflict's resolution must be sought in the context of other problems in the South Caucasus, particularly, the Armenian-Turkish and Georgian-Russian relations. These issues are too specific to be linked, he said.
The retired ambassador said that he met with the new US Co-Chair of the OSCE MG James Warlick at the request of the letter. "I said that there are much things to know to make a breakthrough. Both the politicians and journalists still know very little on how really the truce was achieved. Harping on the 4 resolutions of the Security Council is mere words. We have already failed to work on the basis of those four resolutions as they were devaluated and discredited and fully ignored by the parties. Therefore, we were reluctant to invent an absolutely new basis - it was the statement the CIS Leaders made on 15 April 1994. The statement was based on the ideas that the resolutions lacked. It was mentioned there that not only it is necessary to achieve a truce but also make it strong and reliable. Without that it is impossible to liquidate the aftermaths of that tragic confrontation. Unfortunately, after 20 years of the ceasefire, it is as fragile as before," Kazimirov said. According to him, the conflict cannot be settled unless the parties fully refuse from use of force. The diplomat agreed with the views that the growing tension of the West-East relations around Ukraine complicates the search for a final way out of the Karabakh stalemate.
On Monday, 16 June, LINKS Executive Director Dennis Sammut was the keynote speaker at the opening of the 86th Rose-Roth Seminar organised by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in the capital of Azerbaijan Baku. Dennis Sammut spoke on the theme "The South Caucasus at a time of shifting regional and international security challenges."
In his speech Sammut said the international community needs to find a way of keeping the spotlight on the negotiations. One way is to convene the long awaited Minsk Conference in a time tabled format. The much desired "political will" is not going to fall from the sky, and if the international community wants to see it, it needs to help create it. According to him, the solution to the Karabakh conflict should be sought in the context of settlement of other important tasks for the South Caucasus - restoration of the Armenian-Turkish and Georgian-Russian relations. -m-