Azernews.Az

Armenia will continue to be the weakest country in the South Caucasus region, while neighboring Azerbaijan and Georgia will develop, until the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is resolved, the former top aide to Armenian ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan told media in Baku.

``We are in conflict with two neighboring countries - Turkey and Azerbaijan,`` Zhirayr Libaridyan said. ``Armenia will not develop until these conflicts are resolved.``

He said the parties must abandon ``maximalist demands`` to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

The former Ter-Petrosyan adviser has no confidence in the OSCE Minsk Group, which is brokering the ongoing peace talks.

``I do not trust the mediators from the OSCE Minsk Group,`` he said. ``The negotiations must be conducted directly.``

The Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, France and the U.S., has been brokering peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia since a brutal war between the two South Caucasus republics in the early 1990s. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including the Nagorno Karabakh region, has been occupied by Armenian armed forces since a precarious ceasefire was signed in 1994.

Libaridyan, as well as president of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies Alexander Rondeli and Azerbaijani MP, political analyst Rasim Musabayov attended the international conference ``Joint efforts for the future of the Caucasus: lessons of the past 20 years`` in Baku last Thursday. It was organized jointly by the Centre for Strategic Studies under the Azerbaijani President, Caucasus International and Turkish Policy Quarterly magazines.