Charles Lonsdale, British Ambassador to Armenia answers NEWS.am questions. Below is the full text of the interview.

Q.: Mr. Lonsdale, what is the UK's policy in Armenia? What are your priorities in our region?

A.: We want to see a stable, prosperous and secure Armenia. And that applies to the region as a whole. So supporting efforts to resolve regional conflicts is a top priority. Apart from high-level negotiations between the parties to the conflict we think it is vital to encourage contacts between people and civil society, not least between Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan. Direct contacts, and greater information about each other will help, in time, to build the confidence and trust needed to underpin a sustainable political settlement.

We also want to encourage and support Armenia’s engagement with European structures, particularly the EU and NATO. We think that this will be good for Armenia’s long-term development, economic, social and political. It will support the reform process across a wide range of areas, including defence. But it is obviously important that it is driven by Armenia’s own judgment of its interests.

We also want to support the development of a stable, democratic political system founded on respect for human rights and the rule of law. In practice that means everything from promoting greater participation by women in public life, to running our long-standing programme of scholarships and fellowships for Armenians to study and visit the UK.

Q.: They say France is Armenia's friend, Georgia's — US, and Azerbaijan's — the UK. What's your opinion on this, particularly that your country is often led by oil interests?

A.: Two preliminary remarks. First, there is a persistent but, I think, misguided assumption in this region, as in some others, that international relations is a “zero sum game” – that if you have interests in one country, you must be hostile to others. I don’t believe that is how international relations work and it certainly doesn’t reflect our work. We have good relations with Armenia and value them as much as our relations with other countries. Secondly, energy security is a priority for all countries around the world now, including Armenia. Britain is no more led by oil interests than anyone else.

It’s certainly true that British companies have significant investments in Azerbaijan. But even the logic of pure self-interest means that we would therefore want to see stability in all countries of the region. We certainly want to see a stable, secure and prosperous Armenia. We therefore work with Armenia in a range of areas from defence to education, from climate change to the rights of people with disabilities. We also see the development of democracy and good governance, and respect for human rights and the rule of law as essential for the healthy development of any society, including Armenia. And so we raise concerns where we have them, both bilaterally and with our EU partners. That obviously includes a range of familiar issues, including the continued detention and prosecution of people in connection with the events of 1-2 March 2008 and their political activities; the need for a transparent, independent and effective inquiry into those events; restrictions on the media and freedom of assembly; and the development of democratic institutions and free and fair elections.

We also support projects in a range of areas to help address some of these issues and to encourage the development of an effective and vigorous civil society. That is perhaps the most important part; to develop a political culture where ordinary people can effectively protect their rights and hold the government accountable without looking for outside intervention.

Q.: Your country is not a Minsk Group member. What is your evaluation of the Minsk Group activity and the Madrid principles? What would be different if the UK was also a co-chair?

A.: We support the efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group co-Chairs to reach a negotiated settlement of the conflict on the basis of international norms and principles, including the principle of self-determination of peoples. And we would support any mechanism for resolution of the dispute which the parties can accept and which has a realistic chance of delivering a lasting political settlement.

We understand that the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have had useful and constructive meetings in recent months within the framework of the Minsk Group process. So I remain hopeful that both parties will continue to make progress. We are concerned by the continuing deaths along the Line of Contact and the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We believe the parties should make renewed efforts to resolve this conflict and urge them to engage in good faith in working towards a negotiated settlement.

It is also vital to have an open and constructive public debate about the resolution of the conflict and we have supported a number of projects to encourage that and to build confidence through direct contacts. In particular, compromises will be necessary on both sides to achieve a lasting settlement. Here again there still seems to be the idea that this is a “zero sum game”, where only one side can “win” and any compromise represents failure. But resolution of this conflict will bring huge gains for both countries in economic development, stability and security.

Q.: In Madrid Principles there is a part about voting in NKR years later. Do you think it's possible that as a result of voting or in any way Karabakh becomes an independent state?

A.: The final status of Nagorno-Karabakh will obviously be for the parties to the negotiations, and in due course, the inhabitants, to decide; it’s not helpful for us to speculate on what the choices might be.

Q.: The developments in Armenian-Turkish relations seem to have stopped since Turkey continues to set preconditions. What should be done in order to reopen the border? Do you plan to pressure on Turkey to move the issue forward?

We welcomed the Armenian President’s initiative last year to invite President Gul to visit, and the progress that has been made in discussions over normalisation of relations. We believe that the opening of the border between Turkey and Armenia will lead to positive economic development of the region and closer ties between communities on both sides of the border. We do encourage Turkey — and Armenia — to continue to look for ways to move this process forward.