ANY DECISION ON NAGORNO KARABAKH ISSUE WILL BE UNPLEASANT AS FOR ARMENIA AS FOR AZERBAIJAN, AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENTIST CONSIDERS

Any decision concerning Nagorno Karabakh issue will be unpleasant as for Armenia as for Azerbaijan. As reported by “Arminfo” agency according to “Echo” Baku newspaper, such an opinion is held by American political scientist, chairman of the Association on nations investigation (those of the former USSR and Eastern Europe) Michael Rivkin. In his words, it is difficult to find a decision acceptable for both parties today. Developing this idea, Rivkin supposed that in the result of peaceful settlement of the conflict Azerbaijan would hardly establish absolute control over Nagorno Karabakh. On the other hand, Armenia will not manage to keep the regions boundary with Karabakh. “However it should be noted that any decision will depend on the distribution of forces in these countries”, – the political scientist added. In this connection he emphasized that Azerbaijan would not be able to begin military operations as Russia would come to the defense of Armenia. Besides, M. Rivkin expressed doubt that the western countries and the US first of all, would approve the military operations. He admitted that Baku yields to Armenia in the propagandistic war, in the result of which the pro-Armenian position is still prevailing in the US at present. “In the first turn it is connected with the activity of the Armenian Lobby as there are a lot of Armenians occupying high posts in the US. American society’s sympathy to Armenians because of the tragic events of 1915 in Ottoman Turkey also plays great role here. Besides there exist certain prejudice in relation to the Moslem world as many terrorists are Moslems. At the same time Michael Rivkin does not rule out the possibility of some changes. “Unexpected events influencing this or that decision may take place in Armenia or Azerbaijan. For instance, the variant of exchanging territories was being discussed on a high level lately. Though I doubt that Armenia will give Azerbaijan the corridor to Nakhichevan, as in this case the former will not have the common frontier with friendly Iran. And Baku is unlikely to accept such conditions”, – he said. In the political scientist’s opinion, the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh issue little depend on the fact who will come to power in the result of the coming presidential election in Azerbaijan. “West, US at any case, prefers stability, that’s why it will support the contender guaranteeing it”, – M. Rivkin emphasized.