Hearings on Karabakh Conflict in U.S. Helsinki Commission

Baku / 19.10.17 / Turan: "The four-day war" in April 2016 in Karabakh led to the death of about 200 people and demonstrated that, despite reaching ceasefire more than twenty years ago, this conflict is not "frozen."

Discussions around this opinion unfolded the day before at the hearing on the topic Prevent War in Nagorno-Karabakh organized in Washington D.C. by the Helsinki Commission of the United States, the Azerbaijani service of the Voice of America reports.

Two former US Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Cary Cavanaugh and James Warlick, and the program director of the International Crisis Group for Europe and Central Asia Magdalena Grono spoke and answered the audience's questions.

According to Cavanaugh, Western states, including the United States, want an early and full resolution of the conflict and act in this direction.

However, they act with an intermediary position, and the settlement of the conflict ultimately depends on the will of the parties.

"The level of cooperation between the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs surprises many," Cavanaugh said, noting that despite the contradictions between the US and Russia in various spheres, they effectively cooperate on the Karabakh conflict issue.

Fierce fighting in April 2016 showed that the risk of a new war is great.

Cavanaugh drew attention to the fact that when the conflict began, Azerbaijan and Armenia had just gained independence. However, a lot of time has passed since then in the political and economic form of both states, and significant changes have taken place, which must be taken into account.

In turn, Warlick said that, despite the ceasefire, people are still killed and wounded.

Given the availability of modern weapons for both sides, the number of victims can increase considerably.

According to him, the positions of the parties are not far from how it is described in the media.

After the April war, the mediation efforts were intensified and during this period additional proposals were put forward.

In his opinion, any peace agreement should be based on 6 elements, including the existence of political will for peace, the definition of a framework for security and self-government for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, the return of other occupied territories of Azerbaijan, the existence of a corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh that does not completely cover the Lachin region, the return of internally displaced persons and the possible deployment of peacekeepers.

Grono and other participants noted that the fundamental principles of the settlement should be territorial integrity, the right to ethnic self-determination and the rejection of the use of force.

It was also noted that if the problem was not resolved, it would go beyond the borders and influence countries such as the Russian Federation and Iran. All this actualizes the increase in efforts to resolve the conflict. -03D-