Great Britain, London /corr. Trend G.Ahmadova / "The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is not a protracted or forgotten, but a dormant conflict," said the special representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Andzey Kasprzyk, on 24 September during the international conference 'Prospects for Peace in Nagorno -Karabakh' in London. The special representative gave a report on the negotiations process between Armenia and Azerbaijan noting that the process has not been come to a conclusion. "However, everything depends on the political will of both parties," he said.
In addition, Kasprzyk regretfully higlighted the the armed forces who were the victims in the line of contact between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
In his turn, the representative of the Azerbaijani NGO, Ilgar Mammadov, stated that the Azerbaijani community has not made a single approach towards this issue. "This issue is not a topic of discussion in Azerbaijan. Every Azerbaijani person, from the politician to the ordinary people, surely must know that the occupied Azerbaijani territories should be released," he said.
The representatives of both conflicting sides, as well as international experts, highlighted the important role of the political discussions, development of the civil society and the opinion that is formed by the press and international community.
"The politicians are doing much out of the framework of the negotiations process," Ashot Khurshudiyan, representative of the International Center for Human Development of Armenia, said during the conference. He compared the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh with the original game 'Hedgehog policy' in chess.
The EU Special Representative for South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, stated in his speech that the development of relations between the European Union and countries of South Caucasus to realize the European Neighborhood Policy initiatives would play a great role in the settlement of the conflict.
The conference which took place in the International Institute for Strategic Sciences was organized by the coalition Consortium of Initiatives which brings together several international NGOs, including Consoliation Resources, Link and International Alert. These NGOs are involved in the conflicts and have vast experience with the conflicts in the Caucasus.
The conference was also attended by the parliamentarians of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Armenian Ambassador to Great Britain, chairman of the US-Armenian Trade Chamber, representatives of the European Parliament, representatives of NGOs and press of Azerbaijan and Armenia, journalists from BBC, Guardian, Aberdeen and Cambridge Universities.
The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988 due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.