Crossroads

William Zartman has first-hand knowledge of Azerbaijan. Professor Emeritus at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University, he studies the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and has quite extensive information about the country, the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories and the foreign policy being conducted by Baku. At the beginning of this year, Professor Zartman visited Azerbaijan together with a group of students of the conflict management programme at John Hopkins University. During the visit, the delegation did not confine itself to meetings in Baku and even went to Agdam District, part of which is under Armenian occupation. After the visit, they also held meetings with representatives of the Armenian side in the USA. Zartman shared his view of the current state of the conflict and possibilities of settling it in a brief interview with our magazine.

- You visited Azerbaijan again after a break of several years. How do you see our country?

- Azerbaijan is a booming welcoming place that has grown immensely since my last visit in 2006. It is a modern society, and it manages its foreign relations skilfully between East and West, North and South. I would hope that the economic growth would allow a political opening as well.

- What should the people in the Caucasus expect from the US foreign policy during the next four years?

- Attentive watching and hopes that the Caucasus countries can again take up the policy of economic cooperation that once worked (for a short time) to the benefit of all.

- What do you think about the Karabakh problem? How soon can it be resolved?

- The resolution depends on all sides working towards a stable outcome. There is already a good set of principles - the Madrid Principles - in place that has been almost endorsed by the countries involved. Courageous and far-sighted leadership is need to make that roadmap, or something like it, a reality.

- Azerbaijan is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. Does this status provide additional opportunities for settling the Karabakh settlement?

- UNSC membership gives an opportunity to work closely with other important countries for members' national interest and UN principles of the peaceful settlement of disputes.

- The Four UNSC resolutions demanding the withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijani territories still remain unimplemented. In what circumstances can they be implemented?

- UN resolutions are sometimes not immediately implemented but they provide a background on which to operate, in this dispute and many others. Their final implementation comes as part of a comprehensive solution. But solutions are not found only in the UN, at the top. They also involve preparations among the population, with contacts back and forth among the parties and the creation of popular support for eventual resolution. Wars are fought but peace is built, bottom up as well as top down.