GEORGIAN PRESIDENT NOT INCLINED TO DRAW PARALLELS BETWEEN SOUTH OSSETIAN, ABKHAZIAN AND KARABAKH CONFLICTS

Georgian President is not inclined to draw parallels even between South Ossetia and Abkhazia, to say nothing of Nagorno Karabakh, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told journalists in Yerevan yesterday. In his words, each of those conflicts has totally different historical origins, genesis, specific conditions. The only thing they have in common is that they all make people suffer. M. Saakashvili recognized that the problem of South Ossetia is much easier, as “there is no everyday conflict there.” The Abkhazian conflict is more complicated and is linked more with Georgia’s relations with Russia. As of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, as noted by Mikhail Saakashvili, first of all Armenia and Azerbaijan should agree on its settlement. “We would very much like you to come to agreement,” he stated, noting the plexus and complicated nature of the issue. In Saakashvili’s words, after visiting Baku he got the notion that the Azeri President’s way of thinking is very contemporary and he is peacefully predisposed. As of Armenian President Robert Kocharian, “he thinks comprehensively in these issues, and I heard many interesting ideas from him,” the Georgian leader said, emphasizing Tbilisi was ready to contribute to Yerevan and Baku reaching an agreement.