Armenia and Azerbaijan are far from signing a peace agreement and will hardly achieve progress concerning territories and Karabakh’s status in the near future, says political expert Stepan Grigoryan.
Head of the Centre on Globalisation and Regional Cooperation stressed the sides distrust each other. He noted that attempts to artificially intensify the process may have negative consequences.
Acceleration of the Karabakh peace process seems artificial especially in the context of recent developments in the Arab world, he added.
An in-depth study of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict features Lithuania’s OSCE chairmanship, Stepan Grigoryan told journalists Feb. 24.
As OSCE chairing country, Lithuania places emphasis on help in resolving conflicts in the post-Soviet area, assistance to media freedom and regional and energy security, he said. Lithuania has appointed a special representative for conflicts within the OSCE. Lithuania’s official position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is as follows: the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process within the OSCE Minsk Group on the basis of three principles, which is a most important fact.
Lithuania also proposes strengthening the monitoring group working on the contact line between the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces, as well as making steps to build confidence and withdraw snipers from the line of contact.
According to Grigoryan, Lithuania’s official position is impartial and realistic, as the country does not set itself a task of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Its mission is to contribute to the peace process and relieve tension.
However, there is an opinion that Lithuania shows a biased attitude to the problem. “The reason is that the Lithuanian Parliament plans to discuss a draft resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh in the latter half of this March. The Armenian side is dissatisfied with a couple of point of the resolution. What is the basis for resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, with an emphasis on territorial integrity, peace settlement of the conflict and human rights? But peoples’ right to self-determination must equally be reflected in the resolution. Besides, the draft resolution refers to the well-known resolution of the European Parliament of May 20, 2010, which contains points unacceptable to the Armenian side,” Grigoyan said.
According to him, Armenia must not launch a campaign against Lithuania. “Before the resolution is discussed, the Armenian National Assembly must send a delegation to Lithuania. The Armenian Ambassador to Lithuania should be involved as well. Although the resolution is not expected to have any impact on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, such documents create an unfavorable background for the peace process,” Grigoryan said.
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