The international community should pay much more attention to Nagorno-Karabakh in order to promote peace and stability in South Caucasus. Western politicians expressed such an opinionin an interview with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, who took part last week in the 12th meeting of the International Discussion Club ‘Valdai’.
The first initiative to intensify efforts of international mediators was made by former Austrian Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, who underlined that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is "the main problem, which unfortunately still cannot be solved." " The international community should pay more attention and work more in order to solve one of such frozen conflicts," he urged.
In the tradition of the western approach to the conflict, Schüssel stressed the importance of restoring confidence between the two parties. "So many efforts have been made in recent years, but they haven’t brought any results. Today we should be very careful in respect of this issue in order not to choose the wrong path. The most important thing is that it is necessary to restore confidence and a dialogue based on mutual trust. As soon as the situation in the conflict zone is stabilized, provocations by negative forces are stopped, it will be possible for building the format of negotiations,’’ he said.
Former Ambassador of Germany in Russia Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz said that Germany is fundamentally in favor of a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, although it does not see any method to solve the problem in a peaceful way. "I'm well aware about the problem, as I visited Azerbaijan several times. I am afraid that we won’t see any prospects to solve the conflict in the near future, which remained frozen for a long period of time. It is very difficult to ‘defrost’ it without a resumption of hostilities. But we support both parties in their efforts to find a peaceful solution,’ Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz said.
Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is in solidarity with von Ploetz and Schuessel that it is impossible to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully without a constructive dialogue. "The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh is very difficult, and not only because the fact that many external players involved the settlement process, but also because any interaction is impossible without a dialogue, as the two parties should participate in the solution of the problem,’’ he noted.
Therefore Vilpen indicated the necessity for lowering the level of tension in the conflict zone. "Unfortunately, the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has turned into the stage of the so-called ‘frozen conflict’, as well as many other conflicts in the region. It is important to remain within the legal settlement and continue to work together, trying to keep sober mind," former Prime Minister France said.
Dean of the Department of Political Science at Harvard, Timothy Colton admitted today that the US wants that the ‘‘situation resolved itself." "America's position in this case is negotiations. It is necessary to find any particular solution, there are several options, but at the same time there were no significant progress over the past 20 years. The only negative scenario for everyone is another war,’’ Timothy Colton said.
