Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 23
By Anakhanum Hidayatova - Trend:
No progress towards the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is expected in 2015, US analyst Paul Goble told Trend, commenting on the perspectives of the conflict's settlement this year.
Goble believes Armenia doesn't want any progress in the settlement.
"I am not optimistic there will be progress toward a settlement in 2015. I don't think Armenia wants any, and I don't see Moscow pushing Yerevan unless the Kremlin thinks it can get something it wants more from Azerbaijan," he said.
Goble said he doesn't believe Russia will get something from Azerbaijan, despite the recent rise in tensions between Baku and the West.
"For Baku to become Russia's satellite would undermine everything it has worked for two decades," he said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
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