Parallel can be drawn between Nagorno Karabakh and recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia

PanARMENIAN.Net - There are parallels between the conflicts in Nagorno Karabakh and South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The origin, political and legal aspects, dynamics of development of the conflicts are similar in many ways, a Russian expert said.



"Given the peculiarities of the relief, a solid control zone and maximally short like of contact were formed while militarized enclaves in Shushi and some other settlements were neutralized in the Karabakh war. The situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia was quite different. That is why, in 2008, Tskhinvali experienced the horror that befell Stepanakert in 1992-1993, before creation of a buffer zone in Aghdam," Andrey Areshev, expert at Strategic Culture Foundation said in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net



Baku closely watched Tbilisi's actions and often imitated them. Undoubtedly, if Saakashvili's blitzkrieg were a success, NKR would be attacked within several months. At that, Baku would have the West's support, similar to that it demonstrated during the initial two days of Georgian aggression, according to him.



"Now, when the Georgia attack is rebuffed, the situation resembles that in Karabakh. Georgian enclaves in Liakhvi valley and Upper Kodori. Although Leninogorsk region can be transformed to an analog of Shahumyan region of NKR, seized by the Azeri forces. Like in Karabakh, an exchange of population has taken place here. No one remembered Ossetian refugees from Georgian regions (Kvareli, Gori, Borjomi and some others). A similar story was with huge flows of Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan. But be sure that Georgian refugees from South Ossetia will be remembered as soon as certain powers will search for tools of pressure on Russia," he said.



"Utter defeat of Georgian forces proved that they had been constantly replenished under the disguise of UN and OSCE missions in formally demilitarized regions. If Russia and Ossetia observed the Dagomys agreements, Georgia openly violated them, without any condemnation."



He noted that the situation in Karabakh was different. "The OSCE mission was limited to monitoring of the contact line. Nevertheless, Matthew Bryza was doing his utmost to "unfreeze" the conflict to deploy "western peacekeeping contingent" there. No doubt, if Bryza succeeded, the situation in Karabakh would soon become explosive. We can only hope that Russia will henceforth approach the Karabakh problem taking into account the commonness of interests of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh as well as the situation in South Ossetia," he said.



"Anyway, the OSCE Minsk Group proved its absolute inefficiency. Talks held by Matthew Bryza, who welcomed jets with "humanitarian assistance" in Tbilisi can hardly make sense. It's enough to mention that the U.S. viewing the Karabakh problem in the light of its global interests dominated in the negotiation process while Iran, with its political interests, cultural and historical ties was not event represented in the MG. Isn't it absurd? By the way, the idea of strengthening partnership between Russia and Iran is likely to be developed," Areshev said.

Full text of the interview