Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 17
By Anakhanum Hidayatova – Trend:
The Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform is a serious blow to the aggressive stance of the Armenian government, which persistently supports the maintaining of the status quo in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, political analyst Peter Tase told Trend via e-mail Dec. 17.
Tase, who is also an expert on international relations at the Marquette University, wrote that the activity of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform, which promotes the involvement of civil society and religious leaders in the process of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, will hinder the Armenian political elite in continuing to hide their multiple corruption scandals behind the conflict’s screen.
The expert noted that the conflict is expensive to Armenia’s economy, and has a negative effect on the demographics of the country, which is constantly left by youth.
Tase added that the created platform is aimed at strengthening peaceful dialogue between the nations.
He expressed regret that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) didn’t react to the creation of such an initiative.
It seems that the public diplomacy and intensive dialogue of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform are much more effective than the activities of the OSCE, its 57 member countries and the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, noted the US expert.
He said that this platform encourages the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan to take actions in order to ensure the local security of Armenian and Azerbaijani communities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan; ensure the safe return of IDPs to their native lands; restore the political-economic cooperation.
The dynamic involvement of the platform’s members is doing what the OSCE and other European partners have failed to do, over the last 25 years, added Tase.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
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