Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 21
By Dalga Khatinoglu – Trend:
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Armenia may be very instrumental to finding an agreement on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, Nathalie Goulet, French senator and vice-chair of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee, told Trend Dec. 21.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived in Armenia for a one-day official visit on Dec. 21.
Goulet says Iran is able to push a fair solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
She added that the Islamic Republic, with 40 million of Azerbaijanis and a huge Christian Armenian population, might play a central role in this issue.
Iran might also help Armenian economy, which is collapsing, and make a fair arbitration in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Goulet said.
Iran could be, if wanted, the best tool to bringing Armenia to reason and freeing the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, as well as finding a common ground for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement, Goulet added.
“I am sure Iran would be more efficient in this matter than the [OSCE] Minsk Group,” she said.
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.