US ARMY EUROPEAN COMMAND WORKED OUT PLAN TO SOLVE KARABAKH ISSUE

On the instructions of Pentagon the US European Command has worked out plan for settlement of the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh. The document provides for inclusion of mobile forces, which can be situated in the territory of the South Caucasus, in the solution of the problem. A range of talks between military experts have been held in the Azeri capital of Baku over the plan.” This was stated by President of the American Center for Strategic Studies Marco Pren. In his words, one of the scripts of using US mobile forces in the South Caucasus is their involvement in the Karabakh settlement. Though Mr. Pren does not know who have authored the plan, he hopes that “the initiative belongs to more mature representative of Pentagon.” Thus, the implementation of the plan is the duty of the US Armed Forces in Europe. Simultaneously, referring to Pentagon sources, M. Pren noted, “US desire is not to locate mobile forces in the territory of the South Caucasus by all means. Pentagon does not advocate dramatization of the Karabakh issue and does not work for forming a base in the mentioned region. The important thing is the determination of the mandate of the aforementioned forces.” The Press Service of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan reported it considered participation of US mobile forces in the conflict settlement impossible. However, Azeri Deputy FM Araz Azimov noted that, in his opinion, at a certain stage of resolution of the Karabakh problem participation of foreign troops in the security process in Karabakh is unavoidable. At the same time Azeri Parliament Vice-Speaker Ziyafet Askerov said speaking of deployment of NATO peacekeepers in the conflict zone was premature. In his words, the issue is not subject to discussion at the talks of the Armenian and Azeri leaders. “There is a large probability that after the meeting of Armenian and Azeri FMs in Paris the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will also have a meeting. It is known that the talks will be held over the withdrawn of Armenian military units from the 7 seized Azeri regions around Karabakh. Only after those meetings the matter may concern the discussion of other issues,” Z. Askerov said. He reported that the venue and date of the recurrent meeting of the Presidents will depend on the talks of the FMs, the Caucasian Knot reported.