Peter Semneby says “what happened is clearly unacceptable”

Peter Semneby, EU Special Representative to the South Caucasus, has stated in his exclusive interview to Mediamax that the armed incident on the contact line between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan was “clearly unacceptable.”

We present the full text of the interview of Peter Semneby to Mediamax:

- On June 19, the next day after the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian Presidents met in Saint Petersburg, Azerbaijani subversive group crossed the border, killing 4 and wounding another 4 Armenian soldiers. What is your reaction to this incident?

- Without obviously having any access to first hand information ourselves, it is clearly unacceptable that incidents of this kind take place. I very much regret this fact, in particular, the loss of life that took place as a result of this incident. It demonstrates that the conflict is a dangerous one and it should also be an impetus to reintegrate the negotiation process. We’ve seen incidents in past and unfortunately unless the negotiations gather pace again, we will continue to see them, and I would really want to avoid that.

- You said that you did not have any first hand information about what took place. Are you going to do some kind of investigation?

- We will obviously rely on the OSCE for information about what has happened as we do not have any personnel on the ground.

- Don’t you think that this time international community and EU in particular have to publicly condemn this operation realized by Azerbaijan as the absence of strong international condemnation is one of the factors that are making such actions possible?

- As I said, what happened is clearly unacceptable. We deplore it and we deeply regret the loss of human life.

- Why the international community is not simply urging Azerbaijan to stop the militaristic statements?

- We need to lower the temperature around this conflict and that includes refraining from rhetoric that can be perceived as threatening. In order for the negotiations to move forward, there is a need to build confidence and it should be built both in terms of what is being said in public and what is being done in practical terms.

- What can you say about so called “renewed Madrid Principles” for the NK conflict settlement? Azerbaijan says that is has accepted those renewed principles and is expecting the same from Armenia. Armenia says that the only official proposal is the Madrid Document itself that was presented to the sides in November 2007. What is your understanding of the current stage in the negotiations?

- I don’t want to comment on the documents, the proposals that are being discussed. That is something I would leave up to the co-chairs of the Minsk Group to do. It was an important signal in Saint Petersburg that the two Presidents met - a signal was sent by the two Presidents that they need to speed up the negotiations and pick up the pieces again and I hope that this will also lead to further results.

- Don’t you think that the fact that it was Azerbaijan that killed the Turkish-Armenian process may make Armenian side less motivated for compromises?

- This two processes should each one be treated according to their own merits. Both processes are obviously necessary to move forward. There should be no links made between them, but on the other hand, one should also not deny or ignore the fact that each process will have an influence on the overall atmosphere, and therefore also the other process, which means that we need to see progress on both scores and only by bringing both these issues to successful resolution, we will be able to stabilize the situation and Armenia will be able to come to peace with its neighborhood and also with itself.

- And what do you think about the future of Turkish-Armenian process?

- Clearly, there have been many disappointments along the road in the Turkish-Armenian normalization. I had great hopes myself, when I was present in Zurich, when the protocols were signed on the tenth of October last year. It was a very important moment. But since then, what has happened has clearly not met up to expectations. At the same time, I think one should at least take note of the fact that the process is not dead, it has been suspended on both sides, but with the possibility and will on both sides to bring it forward and to reintegrate it. But this will require political will and courage on both sides. I believe very strongly that this is fundamentally the interest of both countries. Clearly it is for Armenia, but it also is for Turkey to fully develop its regional role in the South Caucasus, which has clearly been limited by the conflict with Armenia and the fact that the border is closed.