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"TIME IS ON NOBODY'S SIDE," AZERI, ARMENIAN ANALYSTS DISCUSSED KARABAKH IN WASHINGTON
Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijan
December 19, 2014 Friday
Raufoglu Alakbar
Washington DC
A group of Azerbaijani and Armenian civil society actors and
representatives of the US, European think-tanks gathered in Washington,
D.C. Dec. 18, to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and the
prospects ahead, TURAN's US correspondent reports.
The event, orginized by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
focused on the a framework document on resolving the conflict named
"Madrid Principles," which was put on paper by the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs in November 2007.
"These basic [Madrid] principles have been the basis for negotiations,
but no breakthrough has been made," Carnegie's Thomas de Waal,
a senior associate on the Caucasus issues, said.
Laurence Broers from the Conciliation Resources, a London-based
NGO, said that Madrid Principles have been "longest lasting Armenia
Azerbaijan peace proposal", which means parties find a lot that is
acceptable in them.
In the meantime, he said, implementations of the principles are far
beyond institutional capacities today, underlines governance deficit,
which needs addressing.
In Azerbaijan, many people "don't trust Madrid principles," according
to Avaz Hasanov, director of the Baku-based Society for Humanitarian
Research.
"Relations between the people are not deployed for almost 20 years," he
said. Borders are closed and conflict suffers from lack of confidence
building.
Tabib Huseynov, Caucasus Program Manager at Safe world, explained
that for many in both Azerbaijan and Armenia, Madrid Principles are
"not entirely clear; all we know is summery of them."
"There is a lots of misinterpretation around the principles. None
of the sides today reject the principles. Baku said it accepts the
principles document "in principle" -- whatever this means," he said.
If properly modified, Huseynov said, the principles would
"fundamentally meet" the interests of both sides, thus they reflects
theses of both "package" and "step-by-step" approaches to the conflict.
"Madrid principles are a small hope because we don't have any other
ideas... It has been around for years and implements the core of the
problem," he added.
In the meantime, he said, the sides should accept that the conflict
doesn't have "real political options," therefore the principles
shouldn't be "politicized."
"Starting from the final status would be building house without roof,"
he said.
Laurence Broers added part of the problem is that both sides believe
the time is on their side: Azerbaijan relies on its oil while Armenia
believes maintaining status-quo is of their interest.
Another serious problem is that the political leaders sometimes
say one thing, and do another as they meet behind the table, the
participants said.
"Time is on side of risk of escalation," Broersadded. "Longer that
negotiations go on, harder a solution becomes."
Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijan
December 19, 2014 Friday
Raufoglu Alakbar
Washington DC
A group of Azerbaijani and Armenian civil society actors and
representatives of the US, European think-tanks gathered in Washington,
D.C. Dec. 18, to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and the
prospects ahead, TURAN's US correspondent reports.
The event, orginized by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
focused on the a framework document on resolving the conflict named
"Madrid Principles," which was put on paper by the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs in November 2007.
"These basic [Madrid] principles have been the basis for negotiations,
but no breakthrough has been made," Carnegie's Thomas de Waal,
a senior associate on the Caucasus issues, said.
Laurence Broers from the Conciliation Resources, a London-based
NGO, said that Madrid Principles have been "longest lasting Armenia
Azerbaijan peace proposal", which means parties find a lot that is
acceptable in them.
In the meantime, he said, implementations of the principles are far
beyond institutional capacities today, underlines governance deficit,
which needs addressing.
In Azerbaijan, many people "don't trust Madrid principles," according
to Avaz Hasanov, director of the Baku-based Society for Humanitarian
Research.
"Relations between the people are not deployed for almost 20 years," he
said. Borders are closed and conflict suffers from lack of confidence
building.
Tabib Huseynov, Caucasus Program Manager at Safe world, explained
that for many in both Azerbaijan and Armenia, Madrid Principles are
"not entirely clear; all we know is summery of them."
"There is a lots of misinterpretation around the principles. None
of the sides today reject the principles. Baku said it accepts the
principles document "in principle" -- whatever this means," he said.
If properly modified, Huseynov said, the principles would
"fundamentally meet" the interests of both sides, thus they reflects
theses of both "package" and "step-by-step" approaches to the conflict.
"Madrid principles are a small hope because we don't have any other
ideas... It has been around for years and implements the core of the
problem," he added.
In the meantime, he said, the sides should accept that the conflict
doesn't have "real political options," therefore the principles
shouldn't be "politicized."
"Starting from the final status would be building house without roof,"
he said.
Laurence Broers added part of the problem is that both sides believe
the time is on their side: Azerbaijan relies on its oil while Armenia
believes maintaining status-quo is of their interest.
Another serious problem is that the political leaders sometimes
say one thing, and do another as they meet behind the table, the
participants said.
"Time is on side of risk of escalation," Broersadded. "Longer that
negotiations go on, harder a solution becomes."