Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 2 / Trend E. Tariverdiyeva /
The EU should assume political participation in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict alongside the OSCE Minsk Group, Azerbaijani political analyst Rasim Musabeyov said today.
"It is important for the conflict to be included in the agenda of talks between Moscow and Brussels to strengthen stability in the Caucasus," Musabeyov said in Baku during the "Azerbaijan - Eastern Partnership: Regional Challenges and New Opportunities" forum, which is organized by the Azerbaijani Presidential Center for Strategic Studies.
According to Musabeyov, the EU plays a meditative role in resolving the conflict and "this is the biggest factor of instability."
"Negotiations are not progressing, although Azerbaijan was ready for progress unlike Armenia," he said. :All this increases the risk of war. Especially when Yerevan conducts military exercises in the occupied territories."
According to Musabeyov, both Armenia and Azerbaijan are carrying out serious preparations for war.
"The OSCE and the EU made peace initiatives that were subsequently refused by Yerevan," he said. "Problems in the Caucasus should be solved in a broader geopolitical context."
Musabeyov added that all Caucasus countries today are interested in European integration, and this issue should become the basis for dialogue.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the United States - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding regions.