Representatives of Azeri and Armenian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh met in Berlin

Yesterday the Berlin European Academy hosted a conference called "New neighborhood policy of Europe and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict". The conference was organized by the Academy with a purpose of giving the conflict sides a ground to announce their positions. The conference was held in three languages: German, Azeri and Armenian and was attended by representatives of more than 70 public and scientific societies.

Firstly, the word was given to a representative of Azeri community of Nagorno-Karabakh Nizami Behmenov who informed the participants in his speech that the Azerbaijani side expects more results from the peace talks. He also highlighted the fact that European history is a clear example of how it is possible to solve a conflict in the frame of a territorial integrity of a state.

After the speech of Azeri representative the word was given to the chairman of a Parliament of the separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh Ashot Gulyan who according to the words of Behmenov delivered a speech in a usual way featuring the territorial pretensions to Azerbaijan.

Gulyan also was unable to answer some questions addressed to him by Behmenov. "Though at first he claimed that Armenians faced ethnical cleansings, he had a hard time answering the question of why no Azerbaijanis live in Nagorno-Karabakh today," commented Behmenov adding that he did not feel in Gulyan’s speech willingness to solve the conflict.

The German researcher Iohanes Rauf, born in Kazakhstan stated that presently the principle of territorial integrity of states is a preferred principle in solution of conflicts. “Inviolability of sides must be protected for establishing permanent peace,” stated Rauf.

In return the head of the European Academy Ekart D. Stratenschulte shared his viewpoint on the new neighborhood policy and settlement of conflicts. He noted that generally speaking it is not so easy to stimulate solution of conflicts existing in Southern Caucasus region by means of tools proposed by the current neighborhood policy. However if settlement of the conflict will become a priority in the policy then it is possible to hope for achievement of good results.

EV