Frozen conflicts thaw calamity for South Caucasus

PanARMENIAN.Net - The status quo in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is not static. The recent events in Georgia proved that it's not secure either, International Alert's current Secretary General Dan Smith during an Armenian-Azeri conference in Brussels.



"Thaw of frozen conflicts would be a calamity for the South Caucasus states. War is a defeat of both sides," he said. "Not only people but also communications and pipelines vital for region suffer in armed conflicts."



"The goal of International Alert is to prevent armed conflicts in the Caucasus, what is possible though a dialog between publics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh," he added.



For his part, Phil Champain, Director of Programs (Asia and Eurasia), said that the Georgian clashes proved the need to intensify talks on Karabakh.