“The UK is not rushing”
British Ambassador to Armenia Charles Lonsdale views Armenia-NATO relations as a brilliant example of good cooperation. According to him, Armenia is one of the unique countries, which has been able to cooperate with NATO without membership and maintain relations with other organizations that ensure its security. The Ambassador says the relations haven't suffered even after Serzh Sargsyan's decided not to participate in the NATO Summit in Lisbon.
"The head of state chooses the directions for the best diplomatic solution. That was Serzh Sargsyan's decision. His absence doesn't mean that the declaration could have been different were he to participate in the summit," said Lonsdale.
Charles Lonsdale presented NATO's strategic concept adopted during the November summit in Lisbon and indicated a number of challenges facing the organization. According to him, in our region that challenge is the so-called "zero amount syndrome".
"That is when you see everything in black and white and say there are winners and losers," said Lonsdale.
Speaking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the British diplomat presented the UK's viewpoint according to which the conflict is unique and should be viewed as a separate issue.
"The existing principles of international law, including territorial integrity, the right of nations to self-determination and no application of force must be taken into account when resolving this conflict. NATO and the UK have always supported the OSCE Minsk Group and we hope that the latter will reach positive results," said the Ambassador.
Touching upon Armenian-Turkish relations, Charles Lonsdale mentioned that despite the fact that they are frozen at the governmental level, cooperation can be seen in other spheres.
As far as the UK's recognition of the Armenian Genocide is concerned, according to the Ambassador, though the events of 1915 are painful, the official London is still not rushing to support any side because it believes that there will be progress in relations.
