New Book On Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict Launched

Karabakh, a disputed territory between Armenia and Azerbaijan, is one of the most dangerous conflicts in wider Europe, a British journalist and writer said late Tuesday.



Thomas de Waal made the remarks at the launch of a book on Karabakh, "Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War," which was translated into Turkish by the Hrant Dink Foundation.



 "Somehow most invisible because it is not in the headlines, negotiations are quite secret," de Waal said.



"Karabakh conflict is not as dramatic or tragic as Syria at the moment. But it has every potential, unfortunately, to be a really serious old-new conflict on Turkey's borders," he said.



Earlier this month, Azerbaijan shot down an Armenian aircraft that killed three people.



"This year was the worst fighting in almost 20 years," he added.



He also referred to a cease-fire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1994.



"There is a big militarization of the situation around Karabakh. The rhetoric gets stronger as well," he said.



He also said that Turkey has limited influence in the conflict.



"Turkey has an interest in stability and peace, but Turkey's problem is it has no relation with Armenia since 1991. Turkey has no influence in the conflict because Turkey has only relation with one of the two sides, only Azerbaijan," he said.



The first edition of the book was published in 2003. It has been translated to Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian so far. The Turkish edition is the translation of an updated 2013 edition.



Thomas de Waal, 48, has worked for the BBC World Service, the Moscow Times and The Times. Currently, he is working with the Washington-based think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.



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