Today.Az » Politics » Russian expert on Europe's role in resolving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
16 August 2010 [14:10] - Today.Az
Interview with Stanislav Tkachenko, head of the program "Diplomacy of Russia and foreign states” at School of International Relations, St. Petersburg State University.
In your opinion, what role does Europe attach to Azerbaijan?
Azerbaijan’s primary mission is production of hydrocarbons, as well as its growing transit potential. There are many countries in the world, including U.S. and UK who would like Azerbaijan to play a larger role in the region. However, these countries mainly seek to protect national interests of U.S. and the UK in the region of the broader Middle East.
Is Europe ready to get actively engaged in a struggle with Russia and the U.S. for economic interests in the South Caucasus?
Europe has only declared its desire to play a greater role in the region. But it is still unable to fulfill this commitment in practice partly for economic reasons (acute financial crisis, which came very close to the second phase in Europe in spring 2010). But there are also important political reasons. The European Union is unable to put forward a unified position in the South Caucasus. For now it is easier for EU to act in the Caucasus region on its own behalf, that is, as national states like Germany, France, Italy, etc. And when they act in this role, they will immediately discover that their interests in the South Caucasus region are not too great, and the resources to advance national interests are too small. So the answer to this question is negative.
Azerbaijan is actively moving towards integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures. Can the EU and NATO help strengthen security in our region?
Yes, they can make a significant contribution to strengthening security in the South Caucasus. But without cooperation with Russia, Turkey, Iran and other regional powers, their efforts will not be productive.
In your opinion, what role should Europe play in resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?
This is a difficult question. What is obvious to me is that Europe could play a more active role in this process and not from case to case, but on an ongoing basis. It's hard to say why emerging European diplomacy led by Catherine Ashton,and the diplomacy of leading EU countries have so far proved unable to fulfill this role.
Are the claims that Russia is not ready to tolerate EU’s growing role in the CIS area and former Soviet countries integration to Europe true?
The European model of high standards of life, developed democratic institutions and human rights protection are attractive to citizens of all CIS countries, and in this sense, Russia is afraid of competition from the EU for the sympathy of people and ruling elites of the other CIS countries aspiring to democracy and the rule of law. But the EU is in a deep socio-economic crisis. It has actually frozen the process of expanding the number of its members and strengthening supranational principles in its activities.
Therefore, over time the attractiveness of the "European choice" will gradually decline. States such as Russia and Turkey are in a position to become center of attraction for integration projects, and may claim for a regional leadership and for an equal footing with the EU when discussing the most important issues of security and economic development in Eurasia.
/Day.Az/
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