Ex-ambassador of U.S. believes Nagorno-Karabakh conflict solution not needs much time

By Sara Rajabova - AzerNews 

The former U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group believes that the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict does not require too much time and effort to come to an effective resolution.

“The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s solution doesn’t require too much time and effort, as the Basic Principles for a settlement are already on the table in the form of the Madrid Document that brings Azerbaijan and Armenia very close to a framework agreement for resolving the conflict,” Matthew Bryza, the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Caucasus told dailykarabakh.com.

Currently, the peace talks, which are being mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of the Madrid Principles.

However, negotiations have been largely fruitless so far due to the unconstructive position of Armenia, which occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories.

The occupant country impedes all efforts and means to achieve a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Bryza believes that a breakthrough in the settlement process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict depends on the decision to move forward in the peace talks by the conflicting parties.

“Right now I don’t see reason why there will be a breakthrough in the near future. As I have consistently stated, what we need for a breakthrough in the mediation process is for the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia somehow to become more confident in each other and in their counterpart’s willingness and ability to take the difficult decisions required to move the process forward,” Bryza said.

The U.S. diplomat believes that the conflicting sides should feel strong political support from Washington and Paris within the Minsk Group, and this support should be rendered at the highest levels of government.

Bryza said he doesn’t see Western leaders being ready to do provide that intensity of focus.

“But they should. They should insist on placing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on their agendas with Russia because resolving this conflict remains important, even if Western leaders are now distracted by other pressing issues such as Syria and ISIS, migrants and refugees, and Ukraine.

While these various crises are of course of critical importance, allowing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to keep drifting risks a new crisis in the South Caucasus that will later eat up a tremendous amount of time and attention but in a much more dangerous situation than if Western leaders had devoted more effort to the mediation effort in advance,” the former U.S. envoy said.

He urged Western leaders to seriously engage in the peaceful settlement of the conflict before the conflicting parties take measures to draw the problem to the attention of the international community.

”Still, I believe Western leaders will have a difficult time recognizing the above factors unless the parties to the conflict themselves grab attention by proposing constructive and unexpected steps forward. This, however, is extremely difficult without the umbrella of political support that Western leaders need to provide. So, we remain in a chicken-and-egg impasse,” Bryza said.