“A political formula of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement has not been determined so far. Even the well-known Near East formula “peace in exchange of territories” does not work here, head of the department of international relations at the institute of political and military studies Sergey Markedonov told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words the issue of Karabakh’s status remains unsettled. “Meanwhile, most part of the former Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast has been beyond Azerbaijan’s jurisdiction since 1988. The Nagorno Karabakh republic has de facto existed since 1991 (since 1994 in peaceful conditions). At the same time Karabakh’s status is the key issue for achieving peace in the region. If Baku recognized the NKR the latter could agree to quit the territories, which were seized during the war and which serve as security guarantor today. Seven regions around Karabakh play the role of peacekeepers in other conflict zones,” the Russian political scientist said.
“They keep the situation ‘frozen’. The current peacekeeping endeavors as if fail to notice the consolidation of Karabakh’s state system. A census was held in 2005, the republic is awaiting a constitutional referendum on December 10, 2006. Thus, it’s consolidation of own institutes beyond Azerbaijan. The status problem sinks the negotiation process. Focusing on the issue the mediators could achieve greater progress. Unfortunately one of the main problems of the OSCE Minsk Group is the incapability to set political priorities and aspiration to settle all the questions at once,” Sergey Markedonov said.
