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Goran Lennmarker: â€œGood possibilityâ€ for solution on Nagorno-Karabakh

06 February 2009 10:09 (UTC +04:00)

Mr. Lennmarker, President Emeritus of the OSCE PA, will visit all three countries in the South Caucasus next week. He made the statement in an interview for the OSCE PA web site (www.oscepa.org) published today.
He said that the purpose of the visit is to meet with the leadership of the three countries of the Southern Caucasus - the Parliaments, the Governments, the Presidents, as well as with NGOs, and to discuss the situation in general in the three countries in the Southern Caucasus, and particularly the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with the Armenians and Azerbaijanis, and the conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia with the Georgians. â€œI hope the result will be positive signals that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is on its way to a peaceful resolution, where the two countries, Armenia and Azerbaijan, are prepared to agree on a solution that is mutually beneficial for both of them, particularly for the peoples of the two countries, especially the refugees and the internally displaced persons (IDPs).
â€œI think there is a good possibility for the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict. It is very much up to the leadership of the two countries to take responsibility for resolving it. We from the outside can support and help and also give support after a solution. But itâ€™s the responsibility of the two countries, particularly the leadership and also the two parliaments to actually reach a peaceful solution.
But I would like to add something about time. Time is a scarce commodity. I think itâ€™s important that solutions are reached early-on because dragging on and on, the situation on the ground deteriorates and people have less and less hope. There is a feeling that you negotiate and you negotiate and nothing happens â€“ a lot of talk, delegations come, but nothing is delivered. And this reflects not only on us from the international side, but also on the national leadership at the political level. And I think that is critically important now to seize the opportunity. Time is not unlimited,â€ he said.
Mr. Lennmarker assessed South Caucasus statesâ€™ integration into EU and NATO as follows:
â€These three countries are part of Europe. It is my very strong conviction that they are European countries, although, of course, when it comes to their role geographically, they are at a crossroads between Asia, Europe, Russia to the north, and Iran and Turkey to the south. You cannot change the order; it takes geological periods to do that. But it is up to them to decide on their future development.
The responsibility of European institutions is to say, â€œYes, if you wish to take part in a closer co-operation with Europe and to be a member in European organizations, you are welcome. You have to perform like all others. We have rather strict conditions for membership like human rights, democracy, rule of law, functioning market economies, and a lot of other rather strict conditions.â€ But that is a responsibility for us in the European organizations to say, â€œYes, you are welcome if you so wish and if you share our values.â€ But it is for them to make the decision. We cannot decide for Azerbaijan or Armenia or Georgia about their future. They are independent, sovereign countries that decide for themselves,â€ he said.