Washington Times: President Obama may well be in a position to craft a breakthrough in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Baku. 4 March. REPORT.AZ/ President Obama will host and convene the Fourth Nuclear Security Summit beginning on March 31 at the Washington Convention Center. Among the scheduled attendees are two leaders who rarely get together because their nations have been at loggerheads for decades.

Report informs, it was stated by Rob Sobhani in his article published in the American edition of the Washington Times.

'While it is important for world leaders to agree on how best to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of rogue nations or terrorist groups, the presence of Presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia offers a rare yet historic moment for President Obama to take the lead in solving one of the most troublesome conflicts left from the break-up off the Soviet Empire' he says. 

The article also notes that in 1991, full-scale war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan and despite a cease-fire in 1994, border skirmishes and fighting continues to this day, over a million people have been displaced and Armenian forces occupy close to 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory.

'Despite these differences, both Armenia and Azerbaijan  would benefit from a peace dividend. An American-led diplomatic resolution of the conflict would unleash growth in a post-conflict environment.' 

'Mr. Obama should work with the two leaders to craft a plan that will lead to the withdrawal of Armenian forces from territories it occupies within Azerbaijan'.

'Mr. Obama needs to persuade the presidents of both Armenia and Azerbaijan that the United States won’t turn its back on them and that a workable solution can satisfy both nations, allow their citizens to live in peace and allow them to at long last develop the trust to be good and cooperative neighbors in a troubled region of the world.' the author states.