YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS: In a Monday interview with the Russian Service of the BBC, Steven Mann, the US cochairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, said both Armenia and Azerbaijan are experiencing now a bigger domestic stability, giving the Minsk Group a good opportunity to resume the conflict’s scrutiny.
According to Mann, after presidential elections in both countries there are now all possibilities for resuming talks. In response to a question about the existence of political will in both capitals, Mann said the Group met with Robert Kocharian of Armenia and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on the sidelines of a CIS summit in Kazakhstan to try to assess it.
“We are telling both sides that the time is not on their side and the longer the resolution is protracted the worse,” he said, explaining that Armenia it is being left out of virtually all regional projects. “New pipelines, highways and railways are being built detouring Armenia and depriving it of possible economic benefits. The country is paying a big cost for maintaining its army,’ he said.
“As to Azerbaijan, a significant portion of its land is under occupation and there is almost a million of refugees and displaced persons and the longer the conflict drags on the more chances that it will transform into a constant state of affairs that does not suit this country,” Mann said.
According to him, there are two more negative aspects of the conflict. The first is that a generation of young men and women is growing in both countries looking at the opposite side as an enemy and the second is that the stalemate situation promotes development of radical feelings. “The longer the absence of progress the more are chances for radicals to come to power in 5, 10 or 15 years,” he said.
Steven Mann then called on political leaders in both countries, including also the opposition, to unite efforts for legitimizing the idea of negotiations, the idea of a compromised solution and to encourage dialogue, which he said is in the strategic interests of all the sides.
In conclusion Mann said the Minsk Group is not mandated to impose a resolution , neither to act a judge between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but to create an environment in which both sides could conduct serious peace talks and help them to arrive at a mutually acceptable peace formula. “The responsibility for the conflict solution lies with Armenia and Azerbaijan and this fundamental approach cannot be dodged ,” he said, adding that the governments of Russia, France and USA, the Minsk Group cochairmen countries, are genuinely interested in the regulation of the conflict. “We shall do everything in our power to support the final decision of the sides,” he said.
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