Political scientists meeting in Baku state strong influence of external factors on settling conflicts in Southern Caucasus

Safety in Southern Caucasus is impossible without resolution of conflicts and regional cooperation. This was the leitmotif of the roundtable, organized in Baku by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation from Germany.

According to Elkhan Shakhinoglu, a political scientist and the head of Research Centre "Atlas", over the last 20 years conflicts in Southern Caucasus were not settled, but grew stronger.

Southern Caucasus is facing three conflicts – Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia – Shakhinoglu has reminded. He believes that achieving regional security is hampered by contradictions between the established tripartite regional formats – Azerbaijani-Georgian-Turkish and Russian-Armenian-Iranian ones.

In the opinion of Mekhman Aliev, the director of the "Turan" News Agency, the events in Ukraine indicate a start of the global changes in the Eurasian space, which will not bypass Southern Caucasus either.

According to his story, after the presidential election in Ukraine, changes in this country will go even faster; and it will contribute positively to the democratization process in Southern Caucasus.

Elchin Mirzabeyli, a deputy chairman of the People's Front Party of the United Front of Azerbaijan, believes that "to settle the Karabakh conflict, we should involve the mechanisms of international law and, in particular, impose sanctions and coercive measures against the aggressor."