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BAKU: World Community Interested In Soonest Settlement Of Karabakh C

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  • BAKU: World Community Interested In Soonest Settlement Of Karabakh C

    WORLD COMMUNITY INTERESTED IN SOONEST SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT

    news.az
    Dec 29 2009
    Azerbaijan

    Sir Andrew Wood News.Az interviews Sir Andrew Wood, British political
    scientist, former British Ambassador to Russia (1995 - 2000).

    How would you comment on the shutdown of British Council's office
    throughout Russia? Do you view it as a continuation of recent cooling
    in British-Russian relations?

    You were right to say that at government to government level it has
    been decidedly cool, including because of the murder in London of
    a former Russian citizen, it appears by another Russian citizen who
    has since become a Duma Deputy. The British Courts have also proved
    unwilling to implement Russian requests for the extradition of other
    persons, including a leading Chechen dissident, on the grounds, among
    others, that they do not believe that the accused would receive a
    fair trial in Moscow. These issues were not resolved to Moscow's
    satisfaction during Foreign Secretary Miliband's visit to Moscow
    earlier in 2009.

    The back history of cool relations between the British and Russian
    governments is quite a long one. Russian actions against the British
    Council are part of that back history. The British Council, which is
    whatever some Russians choose to suspect, a completely non governmental
    organisation, built up its presence very considerably during the 1990s
    and worked effectively with a wide range of Russian organisations,
    both official and non-governmental, well into the first years of
    President Putin's time in the Kremlin. I am quite sure that there
    are large numbers of Russian citizens who would welcome the return
    of the British Council to its work, and the acceptance on the part of
    the Russian authorities of what it can contribute to the intellectual
    enrichment of both countries as legitimate and valuable.

    The wider point here of course is that the relationship between the UK
    and Russia goes beyond the relationship between governments - none of
    which, after all, last for ever. Many thousands of Russian citizens
    have chosen to live in the UK, to educate their children there,
    and to trust British authorities to deal fairly with their financial
    interests. British business, for its part, is heavily involved with
    the Russia market. Whatever our political differences, in short,
    the Russian and British peoples generally get on well together.

    There are numerous factors that deteriorate Russia's relations with
    the West. Do you consider the soonest "reloading" of ties possible
    and what do the sides need to do to improve these relations?

    You asked about wider Russian relations with the West. It would take
    a long time to analyse these in detail. One of the factors underlying
    what you rightly describe as their worsening has been the development
    within Russia of a Great Power mentality, and Moscow's claim to a
    special role within the former Soviet space. Moscow points to NATO
    enlargement as a major issue. One can see why this is sensitive for
    Russia from an emotional point of view. But NATO is not configured
    for military action in the way it was as late as the eighties,
    and cannot rationally be seen as a military threat to Russia. One
    is left with the impression that it is the wish of formerly Soviet
    countries like Ukraine or Georgia to get closer to and eventually to
    join the Alliance that Moscow finds objectionable,or even impossible to
    understand. Moscow declares that it accepts that such sovereign states
    have the right to join whatever alliance they may wish, but Russia
    is nonetheless angry when they try. Russian pressure on such states
    of course encourages them to look elsewhere for a counter balance.

    This account is inevitably a simplification. There is existing
    potential for benign evolution in the relationships between Russia
    and its fellow former Soviet states, Russian military reform will if
    implemented have its effect, and above all, the fact of interdependence
    between Russia and the West, as well as the interdependence of all the
    countries of the trans Atlantic area, will continue if we are wise
    to argue the point that we are better off together than apart. The
    'reset' button pressed by the United States, and offered by the new
    NATO Secretary-General, cannot resolve all the issues that trouble
    Russia's relations with the West, but they have had an effect on
    the atmosphere. There has been interest in the West in seeing if
    anything concrete can be made of the proposals for a new security
    architecture put forward by President Medvedev. The countries of
    the West have consistently supported Russian entry into the WTO,
    on the understanding that Russia would implement its provisions once
    in the organization. Russian and EU markets are tied together. The
    interlocking web of our interests and obligations, in brief, ties
    us together - and means too that this web cannot be sustained just
    by Russia and Western groupings like the EU of NATO, for it also
    includes other independent and often ex-Soviet actors as well.

    The former USSR countries are linked with common economic and
    democratic problems associated with the burden of the transitive
    period. How much time will be spent for Azerbaijan to be able to
    become a full member of the European family?

    All I can do is to suggest some elements for an answer. The countries
    of the former Soviet space differ from each other, and so do the
    countries of the rest of the European family. All of them are in some
    sort of process of evolution.

    No country is perfect in its commitment to fully fledged democracy.

    Sir Andrew WoodBut as there are constituent elements of the EU and
    NATO groupings perhaps we can take these as some sort of yardstick
    for what we might mean by the European family. Such elements would
    be the separation of powers, all subject to the judgment of an
    independent judiciary; equality of all, including the most powerful,
    citizens before the law; freedom of the press and freedom of speech;
    freedom of assembly; independently adjudicated property relations;
    and freedom of religion. This complex system has to be protected by
    freely and transparently elected governments ready to pass on to
    their successors the responsibility for government, secure in the
    knowledge that those successors will act properly to those whom they
    have replaced. And none of this can work without the consent and
    understanding support of the body of citizens as a whole.

    The trouble with all these elements is that they can be replaced by
    dangerous imitations. Elections can be managed. The rule of law can be
    maintained in appearance while violated in practice. Freedoms can be
    abused. The best safeguards against these cancers are the commitment
    of the citizenry and the independence of the three main branches of
    government: the executive; the legislature; and the judiciary.

    No country is perfect in its commitment to fully fledged democracy.

    The more dependent the country is on the authority of a particular
    personality, the less well prepared it will be for the future - and
    one does not have to be far sighted to note that many countries in
    the ex-Soviet space have in built succession problems. The conduct and
    outcome of the elections in Ukraine will show how ready that country
    will be to continue down the path of long term institution building.

    It is at present, or so it seems to me, encouragingly well set on
    constructing an effective democratic future. If that continues, it
    will be important to the rest of the countries of the former Soviet
    Union. But in the end it will be the internal dynamics of the ex-Soviet
    countries which will determine events, and only a fool would be ready
    to set a timetable for their success in approaching a general European
    norm. Azerbaijan has a lot going for itself in principle, and the hopes
    of most of its OSCE partners, for it to use in its further development.

    Due to the relative passiveness of the West, Russia is almost the only
    influential mediator in the Karabakh settlement. Do you think it may
    settle this conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia alone or there is
    a need for Europe's and US participation in the peacekeeping process?

    Of course the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is a major obstacle. You asked if
    Russia could act with effect as the sole effective intermediary in the
    face of what you saw as the relative passivity of the West, or whether
    the latter should make more effort. I would not claim to be an expert
    in this area, though I have visited the graves of the dead in Baku, and
    learned enough of what passed to have a feel for the pain in Azerbaijan
    behind this question. My understanding of the pain in Armenia is less
    direct, but it is there nonetheless. So I hope that you will forgive
    me if I say that it is up to the two governments principally involved
    to look for a settlement, and to take responsibility for it, and that
    if Baku and Erevan cannot do this, then there will be no settlement
    until they do. Intermediaries can help once that condition is there -
    but until it is, their presence and efforts all too often give cover
    for the parties in dispute to take maximalist positions which may play
    well at home but prolong the underlying conflict. There are plenty of
    examples of conflicts lasting for decades despite the earnest efforts
    of well meaning outsiders to resolve them.

    What do you think are the prospects of the soonest resolution of the
    Karabakh conflict? Do you share the view that it can be attained
    quicker than the resolution of other conflicts in the post-Soviet
    area including in Georgia and Moldova?

    I am not close enough to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue to begin to guess
    whether it may be resolved before the questions of restoring the
    territorial integrity of Moldova or Georgia. But there have been some
    changes in the context, not all of them welcome to Baku - or Erevan
    for that matter - which could at least affect the outcome. If Moscow
    can encourage that process, that would surely be welcome. I do not
    think it aims to do that alone, and the wider context includes others
    too. An equitable and lasting settlement would be in the interests
    of the international community as a whole. And the sooner the better,
    including for both Baku and Erevan.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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