Armenia’s membership in Eurasian economic union will not affect Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, Russian expert

YEREVAN, September 23. / ARKA /. Armenia's membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will not affect the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, said Tuesday Andrei Areshev, an expert on the  Caucasus during a video conference between Moscow  and Yerevan dedicated to Armenia's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union and relating problems and prospects. 

He said the peace process is being handled by the OSCE Minsk Group, and there is also a dialogue between the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides.

At the same time, he said he believes that Armenia's membership in the Eurasian Economic Union will strengthen its position "as an economic factor in the South Caucasus." 

According to him, in view of the fact that Azerbaijan and Georgia are energy producing and transiting countries of the region, Armenia’s membership in the trade bloc will balance relations in the region. 

"In fact, the high level of political and military cooperation between Armenia and Russia will be reinforced by the economic platform,” said Areshev.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict started in 1988 when its prevailing ethnic Armenian population declared withdrawal from Azerbaijan. On December 10, 1991, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh in which 99.89% voted for independence from Azerbaijan. 

The latter  responded by large-scale military operations that led to loss of control not only over Nagorno-Karabakh itself, but also over seven adjoining areas. About 30 thousand people were killed and about a million had to leave their homes during the military operations. 

The cease-fire agreement was signed on May 12, 2004, and has been followed since then. The ongoing Karabakh peace process started in 1992 under the auspices of OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the USA, Russia and France. –0—