Why Does Kerry Draw Parallels Between Conflict Resolution and Rise of Authoritarian Thinking?

• 12.13.2016, 15:30
• Liana Hovhannisyan
•  America,  "Insight" Analytical Center ,  World,  NKR

During the last OSCE Ministerial Summit the US State Secretary John Kerry referred to the regional conflicts, among them also to the Karabakh conflict, drawing some interesting parallels.

Particularly, the US official, in the context of the continuing conflicts in the region, referred to the rise of authoritarian thinking, intolerance, restrictions on independent media, hate crimes and backsliding on human rights.

The parallels drawn by the US State Secretary are not occasional and logically they are based on the following core thesis: any conflict cannot be finally resolved, when there is an atmosphere of intolerance and hatred in the conflicting countries, when the ruling authoritarian regime not only do not guarantee but itself violates human rights.

The explanation of this thesis is more than clear: in such an atmosphere there can be no process of confidence building among the sides. And when there is no confidence, to put it mildly, it is illogical to speak about concessions. None of the sides can make concession, when he is sure that the opposite side will perceive that as a sign of weakness. Moreover, he will view that as an opportunity to make another blow.

Real politics make that thesis grounded. The internal political situation in Azerbaijan is described by the same logic which not only directly affects the process of Karabakh conflict resolution, but threatens the security of the whole region.

The April war became a real proof for Armenian sides and international community, that Azerbaijan continues its aggressive policy not only against NKR armed forces but against peaceful population. To make it grounded it is enough to refer to the cases of harassment and attacks against soldiers,  grown-ups and children  in April, the implementers of which were awarded on the high level in Azerbaijan.

In this sense it is not occasional either that the Karabakh conflict resolution process now is divided into two periods, before and after April periods. In the after April period the regaining of confidence among the sides and prevention of new escalations became more prioritized. To rich it we need first of all to struggle against all those factors, the rise of authoritarian thinking, intolerance, restrictions on independent media, hate crimes and backsliding on human rights, mentioned by the US State Secretary.