Epress.am News from Armenia
At the Dec. 1–2 OSCE Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, where the issue of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be discussed, most likely the pressure on Armenia will continue, it will be forced to make concessions and return the regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, said Mikhail Neyzhmakov head of the Center for International Politics at the Institute of Globalization and Social Movements (IGSO), in an interview with 1news.az.
At the same time, he noted that a fundamental resolution to the conflict should not be expected in Astana.
As for Armenia recognizing the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence, Neyzhmakov said such a move, in practice, gives nothing to Azerbaijan. According to him, international recognition of new states has almost always been possible only if the new state was formerly under colonial rule. The only exception, thus far, has been Kosovo, he said.
“Remember Taiwan, which is currently able to establish diplomatic relations with only 23 countries. Mainly small and not very influential countries such as Belize, Burkina Faso, the Marhsall Islands, São Tomé and Principe, Nauru, Swaziland, Tuvalu. And then, mainly due to financial aid secured by these countries. For Russia to achieve at least limited recognition for Abkhazia and South Ossetia, it was forced to take ‘Taiwan’s path.’ Thus, if Armenia does not have Azerbaijani’s agreement in the issue of Karabakh’s sovereignty, Armenia cannot get the same support for Karabakh as [was the case with] Kosovo and is unlikely to have enough money to buy international recognition as did Taiwan,” said the analyst.
According to Neyzhmakov, the recognition of Karabakh’s independence by Armenia will only provide grounds for intervention in the event that Azerbaijan resumes military action.