INTERVIEW: RUSSIA NEEDS TO INVOLVE DIASPORAS TO RESOLVE
RIA Novosti, Russia
Sept 5 2005
Nagorny-Karabakh – political scientist
15:49 | 05/ 09/ 2005
MOSCOW, September 5 (RIA Novosti, Andrei Malyshkin) – A prominent
political scientist said Monday that Russia had to take a new
approach in its efforts to resolve the Nagorny Karabakh conflict,
one of the bloodiest territorial and ethnic disputes to affect the
former Soviet Union.
Sergei Markedonov, the deputy head of the department of international
relations at the Institute for Political and Military Analysis,
said Russia must involve its Armenian and Azerbaijani Diasporas to
increase trust between the two sides in the conflict.
“The main problem in the resolution of the Nagorny Karabakh issue
is the restoration of trust between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he
said. He added the problem could not be decided by the mediators in
the conflict: Russia, the United States, Turkey or the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group.
The expert said Azerbaijan wanted Armenia first to withdraw its
troops from Nagorny Karabakh, UN-recognized Azerbaijani territory
with an Armenian majority, and then decide on the status of the
disputed territory.
“Armenia in its turn doubts that Azerbaijan will honor its promises and
that Nagorny Karabakh will not become a province within Azerbaijan,”
Markedonov said.
The expert said new models were needed to resolve the conflict,
which reached its height in the early 1990s.
Speaking about potential initiatives from Russia, the expert said,
“There must be a clear-cut Caucasus strategy, which we do not have
currently, to make such statements.”
“There is no perception that Armenia and Azerbaijan need Russia,”
he added.
He said, taking into account the large Armenian and Azerbaijani
Diasporas, Russia could establish contacts between their
representatives and make them regular. After that Russia could
“relay” the experience onto Armenian-Azerbaijani relations in the
South Caucasus.
“I would put the accent on the Diasporas,” the expert added. “This
is a very rich resource in all senses and Russia needs to organize
contacts within its borders. With the huge financial and political
influence of Diasporas on Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russia could use
it as a resource for informal reconciliation.”