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Georgia’s Ambassador to the US: The best thing is to find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem

20 May 2011 09:11 (UTC +04:00)

Speaking at the Potomac Instituteâ€™s Center for Terrorism Studies meeting with the students and analysts, the Ambassador, who is known as the architect of Georgia’s "engagement strategy" for improving relations with the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, also called the international moderators to find a solution for Nagorno-Karabakh immediately. Meanwhile, the Ambassador considers Russia â€œas a main problem in the regionâ€.

â€œWhat is happening in Armenia is because of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem it has fallen into Russiaâ€™s hands, it houses Russiaâ€™s military base and has unsettled relations with Azerbaijanâ€, Yakobashvili said, mentioning, largely because of the Karabakh problem the Armeniaâ€™s relationship with Turkey is not settled as well.

â€œSo the best thing is to find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. Because when you have this kind of irritancy, security dynamite, when you have problems like that you are dragged back from other issuesâ€, he said adding, â€œArmenia has no luxury to focus on itself developments, because it has many other aspects. There are domestic problems in Armenia as wellâ€.

Ambassador Yakobashvili also touched upon the Armenian Diaspora factor. â€œLetâ€™s not forget that Armenian Diaspora is one of the largest donors to the Armenian state and it mainly cares about anti-Turkish things. When you play on the international arena you should have a positive agenda not the negative oneâ€, he said, mentioning, recognition of the â€œgenocideâ€ is not a positive agenda; positive agenda could be something as the future of Armenian state. â€œWhen you see the struggle between the Armenian government and the Diaspora (and the Diaspora is a variety of people), you see that itâ€™s not helpingâ€.

The Ambassador said that another regional problem is the Russian military base in Armenian territory.
â€œIf the Karabakh problem is solved, if the relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan are settled, then Armenia will be very quickly developing. But being under security problem, landlocked, with Karabakh not solved and problems with Diaspora, itâ€™s not that easyâ€, he added.

Speaking about the other conflicts, Ambassador Yakobashvili pointed out that, neither in 2008, nor now Georgia had any problem with separatists, but the problem is Russia. â€œThatâ€™s why we were demanding the international peace-keepers in our territory and it still makes a big sense for usâ€.