Interview with British journalist, The Guardian’s Jonathan Steele, who many times visited the region and covered Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict in 1988-1994
- You were in Armenian and Azerbaijan many times and know the situation. Some representatives of Armenian leadership declare that Armenians and Azerbaijanis can not co-exist. What do you think is it possible?
- Without going into details of the conflict, I have to note that both sides must make halfway. The conflict is called as frozen, but it is a crucial problem for the displaced persons, who were expelled from their homeland. Therefore I hope that leaderships and politicians of both countries will have enough power and courage to achieve certain compromises. If the relations are established, the people will have an opportunity to leave their ghettos and pay mutual visits.
- What influence do the foreign forces have in the process of the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict?
- The foreign influence is very important and it is observed in many conflict zones. There is so large non-confidence between the sides that foreign mediation is necessary. In your case, it is the OSCE Minsk Group that plays an important role.
- What do you think about the role of mediators? Is this role positive always?
- There is always certain opinion that whether mediators have unbiased position or not. It is needed to ensure the unbiased role of the mediators. If it is not so, the other side will not accept what the mediators say.
- The international community plays enough active role in this conflict. What does the Nagorno Karabakh conflict mean for the international community?
- The international community has quite flighty attention and switches it easily to other issue. Today all of them focus attention on Afghanistan, tomorrow on Libya and Syria. Unfortunately the conflict attracts attention while it is in the stage of flaring or bloodshed. If the US has any relation to the conflict, it attracts more serious attention. While active battles were going in Nagorno Karabakh and Soviet Union was a force, Karabakh was considered as an element of USSR collapse. Soviets don’t exist now and Russia is not considered as an important player like USSR and therefore Karabakh attracts less attention.
- How do you remember Nagorno Karabakh?
- It was one of the biggest tragedies I had ever seen. The people of different cultures, religions and ethnicities co-existed in the villages once, but now it turned into mono-ethnic society. In the case of conflict in Northern Ireland, if the Catholics and Protestants left their lands, it would be a great tragedy. I would like Azerbaijanis to return to Karabakh, Armenians to Baku, as well as Azerbaijanis once living in Armenia to return there. I would like the policy to make it possible. For me, Karabakh is a warning, model of what shouldn’t have happened.
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