ONE SHOULD NOT CONSIDER KARABAKH CONFLICT SIMILAR TO TRANSDNESTRIAN

Yesterday the official information site of the US Government spread a statement by State Secretary Colin Powell, which says “the United States work with Armenia and Azerbaijan to do something about the Nagorno Karabakh problem.” At that, “MiK” agency, a few days ago a US official delegation, headed by US State Department Special Envoy for Eurasian conflicts Steven Mann, was in Transdnestria. Commenting on the matter in an interview with Echo Baku newspaper Azeri political scientist Rasim Musabekov noted: “One should not think that the Karabakh conflict is similar to the Transdnestrian only due to the US appointing Steven Mann, the Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group for the Nagorno Karabakh issue, to deal with the question.” In his words, there are rather significant differences between those conflicts. However, one should take into account that they both take place in the post-Soviet space and that central authorities have both in Moldova and Azerbaijan have lost control over their territories. “This reality creates similar situations, but it is clear that the genesis of the conflicts and the format of their settlement should be taken into account,” R. Musabekov said. Having noted that election is near in the US and it is not known whether Colin Powell will retain his office, the political scientist noted that one should not think that “US will undertake active actions in the Karabakh settlement” after Powell’s words.