U.S. VIEWS NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT AS GEOPOLITICAL DANGER
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 19 2014
19 December 2014, 14:21 (GMT+04:00)
By Mushvig Mehdiyev
The protracted Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been included in the list
of geopolitical risks by the U.S-based Council on Foreign Relations.
The Global Conflict Tracker report issued by the council knocked
together the most dangerous regional and global conflicts that may
likely have an impact on the U.S.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is the result of Armenian
aggression against Azerbaijan, was also included in the report as
one of the serious problems that the U.S and its interests will face
in 2015.
The report said that the Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized
as part of Azerbaijan. The conflict over the territory officially ended
in a ceasefire in 1993, following a six-year war but it flared up again
once again. Since August 2014, minor skirmishes between Armenian and
Azerbaijani troops claimed dozens of lives and led to the downing of
an Armenian helicopter by Azerbaijani forces in November 2014.
Many international organizations, including the UN, recognized
the Nagorno-Karabakh territory’s belonging to Azerbaijan as a
historical and legal part of its territories. The UN even issued
four resolutions to call on Armenia to end the illegal existence
of its army in Azerbaijani lands and unconditionally withdraw
from the Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. Nonetheless,
Armenia avoids implementing the resolutions to end the conflict in
peace, ignoring to follow the principles of peace talks. So, the
Nagorno-Karabakh was once more shown among the threatening regional
conflicts in the world.
The Global Conflict Tracker claims that the increased tensions between
Armenia and Azerbaijan could also disrupt oil and gas exports from
the region, since Azerbaijan is a significant oil and gas exporter to
Europe and Central Asia, producing 881,000 barrels of oil per day. The
report believes that the unresolved conflict could harm the economic
interests of the U.S. and create a spike in the global oil market.
As a leading country in the South Caucasus region, Azerbaijan initiates
and realizes huge projects with the neighboring countries including
Turkey, Georgia, and Russia. Azerbaijan is seen as a reliable political
and economic partner by the western forces, as the U.S. and Europe
accept the country as a major player in energy security issues both
in the region and world. As Azerbaijan is playing an active role
in the region, Armenia hampers the peace process by its continuous
aggression against Azerbaijan. The Armenian authorities opt for
provocative activities rather than working for peaceful resolution
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
According to the Global Conflict Tracker report, the negotiation
and mediation, primarily led by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, have failed to produce
a permanent solution to the conflict. Without successful mediation
efforts, cease-fire violations and renewed tensions threaten to renew
a military conflict between the countries and destabilize the South
Caucasus region.
The Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s
internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh
and seven adjacent regions, as well as displaced over one million
Azerbaijanis as a result of its baseless claims to Azerbaijani lands
that ended in war in the early 1990s.
Meanwhile, the report highlighted the unrest in the U.S., military
confrontations in the South China sea, the crisis in North Korea,
ethnic unrest in China and India-Pakistan conflict etc. among the
most serious problems that Washington will face in 2015.
The Council on Foreign Relations annually issues the Global Conflict
Tracker report in an effort to predict the global events that affect
the U.S. and its interests. The council surveyed over 2,200 government
officials, experts, scientists on foreign relations to precisely
understand the developments which pose a risk to the U.S in 2015.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
