"Sides will understand importance of settling Karabakh conflict on basis of UNSC decisions" - Ariel Cohen

  09 April 2018    Read: 1463
"Sides will understand importance of settling Karabakh conflict on basis of UNSC decisions" - Ariel Cohen

If Russia wants, it can settle theNagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully, Ariel Cohen, a prominent American political analyst and leading expert at the U.S.-based Atlantic Council, AzVision.az reports citing APA.

The American political analyst said that he has been following the settlement process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict since 1994.

"I must admit that I have already lost my optimism. I don’t believe that the Armenian side is ready to make serious steps towards a peaceful settlement of the conflict. I hope I’m wrong," he said.

He noted that Azerbaijan is getting stronger year by year, increasing the power its army.

“Azerbaijan purchases modern weapons, conduct military exercises. We witnessed this during the battles in April 2016. Therefore, I think that there will be bloody clashes sooner or later, which is greatly unfortunate. After these clashes, the parties will understand the importance of resolving the conflict, most importantly, resolving on the basis of UN Security Council decisions,” Cohen said.

The American political analyst also touched upon the role of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries in the settlement process.  

“As I mentioned, the parties will sooner or later understand the importance of resolving the conflict on the basis of UN Security Council decisions. Russia plays a major and important role in this process. We observe a distant US in this process. Europe is in crisis from a geopolitical point of view and is facing its own problems. In a word, Europe is not in the power to solve the Karabakh problem. Russia is the only power in the region capable of doing something. If Russia wants to settle the Karabakh conflict, and if the Armenian side is also ready for this, I think that Azerbaijan, for a long time, would agree to a peaceful solution within the framework of the conditions put forward by Azerbaijan," he added. 


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