Thomas de Waal
The parties of the Karabakh conflict are not interested in demilitarization and disarmament, English expert and journalist Thomas de Waal told in Yerevan Tuesday during discussions on "Resolution of the Karabakh conflict: real and unreal".
"The parties are not interested in stopping arms racing and demilitarization as they consider armament the basis of their security", de Waal said.
He noted that possible reduction of arms can be only mutual and simultaneous while for effective regulation it is necessary to move the problem from the sphere of military confrontation to the sphere of a constructive dialogue.
The expert also said he considers the resumption of hostilities in the short-term perspective to be highly unlikely. However, he did not rule out the factor of existence of "hot heads" including in Azerbaijan which can strain relations even against the will of the country's president.
The principles that form the basis of the Karabakh conflict settlement are not complete, de Vaal said.
"The process of the peace settlement is incomplete. It is based only on two grounds of four necessary ones including Madrid principles and observation of ceasefire regime", Waal said.
According to the expert, the approaches to peaceful solution must include issues connected with the post-conflict structure of the region (in particular, issues of mine clearing of lands) and contacts on the level of people and civil societies of the conflict parties. "More has recently been spoken of the meetings and contacts with Karabakh Armenians in Baku", the expert said.
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