NK Conflict Settlement Supposes Return of Territories: Warlick

OSCE MG U.S. Co-Chair James Warlick, who was in Moscow last week, gave an interview to Russian Interfax agency, touching upon NK conflict settlement.

According to Warlick, as a person having participated in negotiations on other issues for a lasting period, he may state that negotiations can’t be successful, if any of the sides is obliged to go to sacrifice and mutual concessions.

“There was a time when Armenians and Azerbaijanis lived next to each other, now those times are in the past. Unfortunately, it’s a fact that new generation of Armenian and Azerbaijani people grew not knowing one another. They know each other only from media outlets and news. It’s upsetting. We’d like to see contact between these people. As a peaceful settlement, we’d like that Armenians and Azerbaijanis could live together. I believe, there are lots of people in Armenia and in Azerbaijan, who are ready to go to that.

Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement supposes return of some territories under the control of Azerbaijan, for the status of Nagorno Karabakh.

Those were settlement conditions, however, not the only ones—return of refugees, presence of international peacekeepers. Al these elements are conditions for the peaceful settlement, and they’re all known. We need to work with the sides to find the way to unite all those conditions and reach to peaceful settlement, from which people of the region will gain,” Warlick said.

“Hopefully, peaceful settlement process won’t last for years, however, naturally, one shouldn’t anticipate unexpected turning point in this issue. Negotiations require time and lots of discussions. However, we have a way to move forward, there are concrete proposals. The presidents are involved.

Many people call it frozen conflict, but, as we see, especially recently, it is not so, it is rather active. In early April we saw how the events can be dangerous. When I assumed my post, the snipers were the most dangerous. And it was very sad that so many people died in skirmishes. Today the situation is more dangerous taking into account the existence of rockets and heavy weapons.

I think there is a conflict escalation risk which can lead to negative consequences.  The Nagorno Karabakh conflict requires huge attention from all sides. He said if someone considers the Nagorno Karabakh conflict manageable, he is mistaken,” OSCE U.S. Co-Chair said.