Armenak Ovanesyan: "No breakthrough is expected in the settlement of Nagorno-Garabagh conflict next year"

"Nagorno-Garabagh conflict is a political issue and its solution depends on political arrangements", famous political scientist of Armenia Armenak Ovanesyan said in a response to the question about the influence of such events as "Days of Azerbaijan in Armenia" on the further development of negotiation process.

He highly evaluated conduction of any arrangements, aiming at familiarization with cultures and traditions of neighbor countries and nations.

He stressed the importance of such events in conditions when two nations are isolated from each other, and there is no common informational space.

He also valued meetings and contacts of the representatives of Armenian and Azerbaijani communities.

However, he noted that it is not possible to speak about the soonest resolution of Nagorno-Garabagh conflict, which is an obstacle on the way to peace, stability and prosperity of the South Caucasus region.

He said the year of 2007 is passing under sluggish development of negotiation process and added that no breakthrough is expected in the settlement of Nagorno-Garabagh conflict next year, due to forthcoming elections in both countries.

"Presidential elections will take place in February in Armenia and in October in Azerbaijan, yet inner political changes in Armenia, which occurred in 2007 due to the return of the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, may cause some changes in 2008", he concluded.