Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan’s political forces share views on the settlement of the conflict with Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh, a recent survey by a British non-governmental organization has found.

Azerbaijani political parties deem a solution possible strictly within the country’s territorial integrity, i.e. with the liberation of Nagorno Karabakh and seven other occupied Azerbaijani regions from Armenian occupation, according to the poll, conducted in the two countries by the London Information Network on Conflicts and State-building (LINKS).

The Karabakh conflict flared up due to Armenia's territorial claims. Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory since a war in the early 1990s. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but OSC-brokered peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.

The Azerbaijan section of the LINKS report, entitled "Karabakh: deep discussions", was released on Wednesday, two weeks after the findings on polling in Armenia were issued. The poll was conducted among 46 political organizations in the two countries.

LINKS concluded that there is widespread public opinion in Azerbaijan that Nagorno Karabakh should be granted a high-level autonomy within the country. It said that a number of interested parties have developed a plan on how to carry this out. Also, some political parties have cited the need for stationing peacekeeping forces in the region.

According to the study, a number of parties believe that democratic development should be boosted in Azerbaijan to encourage Nagorno Karabakh’s Armenians to live inside the country.

Most parties also consider war as a possible solution of the long-standing conflict. They said that if other means fail, Azerbaijan will have to resort to military action.

Respondents in Azerbaijan said they were disgruntled with the OSCE Minsk Group, which is brokering peace talks, and lack confidence in its co-chairs - the United States, Russia and France.

Those polled praised Turkey’s role in the peace process and argued that another neighbor, Iran, has a friendly attitude toward Armenia.

The survey participants welcomed the idea of the European Union’s joining the mediating mission on Karabakh settlement.

LINKS Executive Director Dennis Sammut said summarizing the findings that while Azerbaijan’s political organizations concur that the Karabakh conflict is to be settled based on the territorial integrity principle, most respondents in Armenia believe that any solution of the dispute should envision security guarantees for Karabakh’s Armenian population.

Sammut said representatives of Azerbaijan’s political parties are contemplating the future of Karabakh Armenians, while their counterparts in Armenia have no opinions about the future of the region’s Azerbaijani community.

He also said that unlike respondents in Azerbaijan, those polled in Armenia have a better attitude toward the mediating Minsk Group.

Sammut said the survey aimed to encourage dialog on the Karabakh problem in Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as discussions between the public in the two countries, adding that such discussions would facilitate peace talks.