Settlement process to be resumed

Speech delivered by VK's editor-in-chief at the round-table "New realities in the South Caucasus region "in St. Petersburg

Esteemed colleagues, it is undoubtedly a great honor for me to conclude today's meeting. However, it is also a very responsible task at the same time, because the discussion has clearly shown that there is no general position, and there are no clear recipes for settling the disputed issues of any of the above-mentioned problems, neither concerning the Armenian-Turkish dialogue, nor on Nagorno-Karabakh.
Such are the realities.

First of all, I am convinced that the Armenian-Turkish dialogue process will be resumed. Tomorrow, in a year or in five years, but it will be continued. A renunciation of the normalization of relations is an absolute impasse both for Yerevan and Ankara. Again, the Nagorno-Karabakh problem will always come back to the agenda, like it or not.

Any normal development of the South Caucasus is out of the question without distinct and frank answers to sore subjects of regional policy. We shall always pretend (keeping our tongues firmly planted in our cheeks) that we still have a hundred years before us. It is an illusion and a dangerous delusion.

The zero-sum opportunities game between the major centers of power will inevitably become a thing of the past and then each side in the conflict will be faced with a question - what is dearer - moving on in the 21st century on the basis of cooperation or maintaining mutual ill will and reproducing conflicts for future generations.

I understand that nobody is objectively ready to open strategies to nowhere, not in Armenia, not in Ankara, not in Baku. However, the change of positions is a question of time. There is no alternative of dialogue.

I do not aspire to the role of a Tolstoyan, calling to peace, without understanding the realities of the Caucasus. I have no illusions. But the political elites of the region should equally have distinct and precise understanding of the fact that it is impossible to ensure the sustainable development of nation states without mutual concessions and permanent aspiration for dialogue. Quite the contrary, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement will make it possible to impart strong creative impulse to the economic development of each of the countries involved in the conflict, without which neither the assistance of diasporas, nor oil money, by themselves are able to ensure the forward modernization of each state of the region.

Sticking to the problem of conflict and the bonds of mutual hostility fetter movement, and loom over the consciousness of the population like weights. It is an obvious fact.

In my opinion, Those analysts who insist that Russia is interested in the maintenance of tension in the South Caucasus are thinking in terms of the last century. It has already become quite apparent that maintenance of the controlled conflict in the region imminently creates a grave source of tension for Russia itself and also disturbs the North Caucasus. Therefore, I am convinced that the joint efforts of Russia and other international negotiators should be ultimately aimed not at searching for ways of reinforcing their own positions, but at fair mediating. My Armenian colleague has expressed skepticism concerning the negotiators. There is a grain of truth in this
statement. But is waiting for Moscow or Washington to solve all the problems of the Armenian-Azerbaijani dialogue worthwhile? Do not we just write off all the flops and blunders of our own diplomacy to the major players?

If somebody's going to call upon Russia for openness, then other countries should be equally honest in their estimates and statements.
Double standards do not grace anyone, regardless of a country's size Barack Obama has not said the word "genocide", but there was more to the process of the Armenian-American dialogue concerning this problem than that. Russia can not make independent states act in strict accordance with its own strategy. However some colleagues of mine still blame the Kremlin for the fact that it does not assume the responsibility for finding a square solution to the Karabakh problem.I'll answer to this reproach with the famous words of Leonid Kuchma, who, as Ukrainian Prime Minister, said: "Tell me what we are building, and I'll build it!" So, before you spit out reproaches regarding Russia, let's agree on what we are going to build. And it is up to Yerevan and Baku to agree, and, I believe that any advance in this problem will be supported by Moscow.

Alexei Vlasov