Compromise is the only way for an effective and complete settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the moment, Russian experts-caucasiologists told Vestnik Kavkaza, speaking about the possibilities of a settlement of the long conflict around Karabakh and ensuring peace in the region. However, they all aired completely different approaches to the compromises that can be achieved in the foreseeable future between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Thus, the political consultant and candidate of historical sciences, Oleg Kuznetsov, pointed to the need to separate people and the authorities in the search for a compromise. "If by the parties of the conflict the whole of the country is meant, I am sure that the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples are able to find a compromise for joint coexistence. If we assume that the parties of the conflict are the political regimes, then a compromise between the Karabakh clan of Kocharyan-Sargsyan of Armenia and the team of Aliyev in Azerbaijan is not possible. That means that the Kocharian-Sargsyan regime, which I believe to be a terrorist one, the conflict itself and the war are the only conditions not only for its political, but also its physical existence,’’ he explained.
The expert sees an achievable compromise in a return to the original positions, preceding the appearance of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "It is necessary to restore the situation prior to 1988 and the further definition of Nagorno-Karabakh's status within Azerbaijan in accordance with international law, abstracting from the Soviet legacy, that is, in the various forms of national and cultural autonomy by world standards. I believe that this situation has real prospects of being resolved, but the condition for this should be still the democratization of the political regime in Armenia as a result of the parliamentary elections and the election of the decision-makers,’’ Kuznetsov believes.
"In accordance with the constitutional reform, Armenia's transition from a presidential republic to a parliamentary one will require the establishment of a balance of powers, as well as the selection of the first persons who will embody this balance of power. People who are not linked to Karabakh and who did not participate in the Karabakh war, who were not influenced by the diaspora on Armenians living in Armenia, should be elected to the key positions, so they can solve their own domestic issues. Then a compromise in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be possible,’’ he concluded.
In his turn, the political analyst Andrei Epifantsev expressed confidence that a valid compromise on Karabakh can only be found in the division or sovereignization of the region. "In my view, the solutions that are offered by both parties, trading them off as compromises, are not compromises: nor the requirement of Azerbaijan to include all the territories, Karabakh as well as the areas around it, in its structure, with the allocation of broad autonomy for the Armenian population in Karabakh, nor the desire of Armenia to see Karabakh in its composition, while being ready to return part of the regions. In reality I see two compromises: a simple division of Karabakh conditionally into two parts with their further joining to Armenia and Azerbaijan, or the creation of a territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a complex, federal or even confederal state with two communities – Azerbaijani and Armenian,’’ he said.
