The opening of regional communications will reduce Armenia's reliance on Russia, this will also benefit Azerbaijan. James Warlick, the former US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, expressed such a view on the air of "Factor of Power" program of Armenian News-NEWS.am.
According to the retired diplomat, the reopening of the border with Turkey will also be of great benefit to Armenia.
"When the issue of Armenia and Azerbaijan relations can improve, I think we can see a new era of prosperity come to Armenia and quite frankly, to Azerbaijan. I do believe that there will be a time when it’s possible to open the border with Turkey, for example, which will be an enormous benefit to Armenia for many reasons. That’s not an easy issue to do. But I believe it’s something that should be on the table. Restoring communication links in the region is vitally important and that’s going to be to benefit of Armenia. It will reduce the reliance on Russia for so many things and I do believe that this will also benefit Azerbaijan. So there is a lot at stake here and it’s important the basis of moving forward is an equitable settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh, and I believe that that can open the doors for many other positive developments that, quite frankly, the region deserves," said the retired American diplomat.
When asked whether the US has vital interests in the South Caucasus, or whether the latter is important mainly due to the presence of Russia and Iran, Warlick said: "No. I think the United States has always had interests in the region. Of course, what’s in the news today are the energy interests with Azerbaijan but there’s much more than that. We do have a common interest in stability in South Caucasus; we have a lot of personal and cultural ties, particularly, to Armenia. As you are well aware we have a very large Armenian-American community here with strong ties to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. And that’s important for the United States and that is an interest. We also have common goals of fighting terrorism in the region.”
