Armenia is a basket case economically according to American expert

Interview of Day.Az with David Cuthell, Adjunct Associate Professor, Middle East Institute, Columbia University

- There is still a deficit of information in the world about Azerbaijan. What do you think, what helped Azerbaijan to protect its national originality without vanishing in the shadow of big neighboring powers?

As to this question, my answer is quite simple. In the post WWII frame of things. Azerbaijan was largely perceived by the Western states as being part of the Soviet Union after WW II. This continued through the Cold War up to the breakup of the Soviet Union. After that, most of the attention was focused on the newly re-emerged European states. It really has only been in the past twenty years that the U.S. and Europe began to refocus on Azerbaijan. For the U.S. this had more to do with NATO related politics as well as Iran related issues.

This being said, Azerbaijan has recently come to the forefront on U.S. and European attention. What is most interesting about this is that it had largely been through initiative originating in Baku that have paved the road to increased attention. Azerbaijan has been able to develop across the board and has draw the attention of the West in a major way. The fact that Baku is now a showcase of not only great architecture but also a venue for conferences and other cultural events, validates that the investment in both human and physical infrastructure has paid off handsomely.

- What internal policy tactic - unidirectional or multidirectional is best for the small republics of the South Caucasus?

There is really no point in forcing a single vector policy. Armenia is a basket case economically and is beholden to Russia. Russia itself is a state that has many struggles to overcome before it becomes truly competitive with the rest of the world powers. The new competition is really not about military might. Azerbaijan is past the point of relying on a single power to survive and flourish. Russia should become a partner but only when it obtains the level of development that Azerbaijan has achieved on a social level. The variation within Russia is still too great. For every brilliant Russian, there are still too many citizens who live lives of overt desperation. Baku, with the lions share of the population is certainly not that. If forced to choose a vector, I would look West.

- And what can you say about Turkish policy and its interests in the South Caucasus?

For better or for worse, Turkey's interests are purely commercial. Anything apart from that needs to be view with extreme skepticism. At least at present.

- How much is it interesting for people living far beyond this region to know about this problem? How it is important for Baku to continue to disseminate more information about it?

The sad truth is that it is not. The vast majority of people have no idea where N-K is located. As for the second part of the question, the answer is that there is a moral responsibility to make sure that the truth is told. Without the truth the Berlin Wall would still be there.

- What are the main obstacles to the conflict resolution?

1) Indifference to a conflict that has existed since the 1990s. 2) Too many other stories that compete with N-K in the global media. 3) The short attention span of the world press. 4) A better narrative and/or documentary of the underlying facts, in order to refocus on this tragedy in a constructive manner.