ICG: Yerevan and Baku Trying to Gain Time in Karabakh Issue

PanARMENIAN.Net - "It seems to me, both Armenia and Azerbaijan are trying to gain time in the Nagorno Karabakh issue. Armenians think that the longer the current situation is preserved the greater are the chances that it will transform from de jure into de facto. Azerbaijan considers that thanks to the oil export income the economic situation in the country is getting better year by year," International Crisis Group Caucasus Project Director Sabine Frezier stated. In her words, the Azerbaijani leadership has many times promised Nagorno Karabakh "the highest status of autonomy within Azerbaijan" however failing to explain what kind of status it will be. When touching upon the possibility of deployment of peacekeeping forces in conflict region Ms. Freizer said the ICG insists that the peacekeeping forces in the Karabakh conflict region should not be from the United States, Russia or Turkey. "We think peacekeeping forces should belong to the European community," she stated. She also stressed that the Nagorno Karabakh Republic is the only unrecognized territorial unit receiving aid from the U.S. In her words, the amount of the assistance to Karabakh made $17 million during the period of 1998-2004.