Your trusted source

The escalation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani standoff is not advantageous to any country. Superpowers have their own problems and not interested in escalating the Karabakh conflict. Thomas Waal, a senior associate with Carnegie Europe, said this when participating from London via video link in a press conference in Yerevan today.

In response to a reporter’s question about the possibility of deploying peacekeeping forces in the Karabakh conflict zone, the analyst said that Russian peacekeepers alone cannot be deployed along the line of contact, but they need to be joined by peacekeepers of France and the U.S. The Russian side will play a dominant role in the peacekeeping mission if the reaction of the Armenian and Azerbaijani side is positive, he added.

The expert commented on the remark made by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on September 26, 2015 at the 6th meeting of the State Commission on Coordination of Events for Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide: “Armenia, and when I say Armenia, it also means its integral part Nagorno Karabakh…”. Thomas de Waal expressed an opinion that those words do not change anything in the status of Nagorno Karabakh and represent a kind of threat addressed to Azerbaijan.

The analyst said the process of recognition of the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic by Armenia may begin in case of an escalation of the situation and inevitable hostilities.