Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.10
By Anakhanum Hidayatova - Trend:
The US doesn't show proper interest for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, because it can lead to serious problems with the Armenian lobby groups, the Swedish scientist, a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Military Science, director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, co-founder of the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm, Svante Cornell told Trend Feb.10.
"There are two main reasons why US doest want to resolve the conflict, and one of them is political," he said. "Politically, most people think that this conflict is very hard to resolve, therefore chances of success are quite low and the amount of time, energy and political capital that needs to be invested is very high."
"Secondly, there are many other issues that are rising on a daily basis in the world," said Cornell.
"When the US secretary of state John Kerry took over his job more than two years ago, he said to the people in the state department what his basic priority was and that Karabakh conflict was in this list of priorities, after that the problems in Syria and Ukraine emerged and there are many other issues that had made it very difficult," he said. "We have seen that the old issues of Israeli-Palestinian conflict have taken much more priority in the US."
"I think there is a concern that investing in the Karabakh conflict resolution will lead to serious problems with Armenian lobby groups and many people do not want those problems," Cornell 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 two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.