Nagorno-Karabakh cannot retain its status quo for ever, Peter Semneby, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus stated in his interview with the Vremya Novostey (Times of News) newspaper (Russia). He added that the Armenian authorities are well aware of this fact, and favorable conditions are necessary for them to deal with the Nagorno-Karabakh problem as well.

Under the circumstances, when the Armenian authorities are facing numerous problems at a time, the normalization affords them the opportunities for focusing on further complicated issues, Semneby said. According to him, the improvement of Armenian-Turkish relations will create new favorable conditions for settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

As regards the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides’ readiness for concessions in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, Semneby pointed out that the Madrid Principles, which became known after the G8 meeting, contain rather clear definitions.

The EU Special Representative stressed that the most serious problems are in details, but general principles for both the sides to make concessions are clear. The most complicated issues, namely the ones related to Nagorno-Karabakh’s status, are postponed for an indefinite period, Semneby said.

Responding to a remark that the results of referendum on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh may prove unacceptable to official Yerevan, Semneby said that the sides have made much progress in discussing the mechanisms. He expressed the confidence that further progress is possible if favorable conditions are created.

Addressing the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement, Semneby pointed out that he does not expect an explosion inside Armenia.

According to him, it is mostly the Armenians residing outside Armenia that are against the rapprochement, which is a serious problem for the Armenian authorities: the Diaspora plays a great role for Armenia and shows varied attitudes to the issue. So it is necessary that the Diaspora take into account the interests of Armenian residing in Armenia.