November 20, 2011 - 15:24 AMT
South Caucasus countries must consider economic unification- expert

Karabakh conflict is a vulnerable issue, professor emeritus of history at Yale University, the author of “The Struggle for Transcaucasia (1917-1921)” said.

“A conflict between nations populating the South Caucasus, Armenians and Azerbaijanis, is one of the reasons why region fell under the power of Soviet Russia,” according to Firuz Kezimzadeh.

To resolve the conflict, the expert suggested economic, and later, political unification of Transcaucasia, citing Germany and France as an example of reconciliation between long-term rivals.

“The reality is that Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia have close cultural and geographic ties, so there must be a way to eventually settle the existing problems, long as they might remain pending,” 1news.az quoted the expert as saying.