No military solution to Karabakh conflict- says outgoing us ambassador

YEREVAN, December 19. / ARKA /. The outgoing US ambassador to Armenia John Heffern reiterated today that there is no military solution to the long-running Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Speaking at a farewell news conference in Yerevan he said he had to repeat the statements by the OSCE Minsk Group that the Karabakh conflict has no military solution, and there is only one way to settle it – it is through peace talks.

However, he stressed that the OSCE Ming Group is acting as a peace broker and can not impose a solution option on the parties to the conflict.

"By and large, it all depends on the conflict parties themselves," said the diplomat.

According to him, the US hopes that the strategic South Caucasus region will sooner or later become open, and that Washington, for its part, is ready to help resolve the conflict and open borders.

He said the US wants to help Armenia to become a strategically important country with new possibilities and alternatives. According to him, the US and EU are willing to deepen cooperation with Armenia in any sphere where Armenia will demonstrate political will.

According to him, even though Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), it also effectively cooperates with NATO and is willing to continue cooperation with the West on mutually beneficial terms, which is natural, "because there are no winners and losers."

He stressed that Washington will continue helping Armenia to build up democracy and strengthen human rights, rule of law and free media.

He said cooperation between Washington and Yerevan is strong and is based on real values. According to him, Washington wants to have deep ties with Armenia; to help it develop the skills of young people,  in particular, IT innovators, because the US believes that the future of Armenia is in knowledge-based economy.-0-