EN
26 November 2004 - 15:15 AMT

STEVEN MANN: CALLS TO SOLVE KARABAKH PROBLEM BY FORCE “PURE IMBECILITY”

“There are a lot of reasons inducing to the soonest settlement of the conflict”, US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Steven Mann stated when responding to the questions of the Azeri office of RFE/RL, Echo Azeri newspaper reports. The interests of all the parties to conflict should be taken into consideration, he considers, noting at the same time that ideal solutions do not exist. When touching upon the recent attempts to put the issue on the agenda of the UN General Assembly, Steven Mann asked a rhetorical counter-question “how could such a step contribute to the settlement?” and reminded that the issue is being discussed within the frames of the OSCE. He also expressed an opinion that the attempts to solve the problem by force are “absolutely imbecile”, since they can bring to nothing the economic development of both sides.