Русская версияAfter returning from a whirlwind trip to Georgia and other
countries in the region, Basescu said Friday, Aug.
2 that the
existing peace mechanisms for the Caucasus had proved inefficient
and only maintained the tension. He also said it was wrong to grant
ethnic minorities collective territorial rights, specifically
naming Kosovo as an example.
"The problem that started with Kosovo must be stopped," the
Romanian president said. His country has not recognized Kosovo's
independence.
Basescu said he wanted to convey his conclusions to Romania's
partners in NATO and the European Union. He also wanted to
highlight his concern over the "frozen conflict" in Romania's
neighbor, Moldova, and its separatist region of Transnistria.
The EU had to be more active in dealing with these conflicts, he
stressed.
Basescu said that in principle he was in favor of ethnic minority
rights of a cultural nature, but only on an individual basis and
never in conjunction with territories.
Failure by the West to realize this would result in "big problems
of territorial integrity" in the Balkans, the Black Sea region and
other parts of Europe, Basescu said.
Basescu and Foreign Minister Lazar Comanescu embarked Wednesday on
a tour of five countries to review the Georgian-Russian conflict
and its effects on the region.
In just two days, they visited Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia,
Azerbaijan and Turkey, meeting with their counterparts to review
developments in the wake of the conflict in Georgia's breakaway
province of South Ossetia.
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Basecu, right, has had harsh words for NATO and the West
In Kiev, Basescu met Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to start
a series of top-level meetings. He also met Moldovan President
Vladimir Voronin, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili,
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Abdullah
Gul.
Basescu arrived in Tbilisi on Thursday accompanied by humanitarian
aid to be distributed to displaced persons in Georgia.
Romania recently confirmed that it had provided weapons support to
Georgia's infantry, with this assistance falling within
international conventions.
At NATO's special foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels on
Tuesday, Comanescu stated that Romania continued to support
Georgia's aim to join the Western alliance.
Analysts link current crisis to Kosovo's independence
Basescu is not alone in linking the current problems in the
Caucasus to the West's handling of Kosovo,
Analysts believe that if Russia recognizes Georgia's breakaway
regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia then the West's backing of
Kosovo's independence move this year will have played a key role.
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Abkhazia and South Ossetia may take Kosovo's lead and claim
independence
Russia's upper house of parliament will meet in emergency session
Monday to discuss recognizing the independence of the rebel
Georgian regions.
In the Abkhazian capital Sukhumi on Thursday tens of thousands of
people thronged the main square urging Moscow to back the bid for
independence from Tbilisi.
Western nations have repeatedly championed Georgia's sovereignty
and territorial integrity even as Russian troops advanced to within
30 kilometers of the capital Tbilisi.
However Moscow argues that it has been protecting its nationals in
peril abroad, as the United States, France and other western powers
would do.
West recognition opened Pandora's Box
Russian leaders also cite the example of Kosovo, which unilaterally
declared independence from Russian ally Serbia in April and has
since been recognized by the United States and 20-odd European
Union nations among others.
"With the recognition of Kosovo, they opened Pandora's box," said
Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia's mission to NATO.
Western officials strongly reject the Kosovo-South Ossetia
parallel.
"In Kosovo there was a UN presence, there was also the issue of
ethnic cleansing, there was a standstill in negotiations, no chance
for a negotiated settlement all these different things came into
play," one British diplomat said. "I don't think you can draw
parallels."
His foreign secretary David Miliband puts the case more succinctly,
describing the comparison as "completely bogus".
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Serbia was not happy about losing Kosovo
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer speaks of "a special
UN trajectory for Kosovo" which has been under United Nations
control since NATO bombing in 1999 ousted Serbian forces waging a
crackdown on the ethnic-Albanian separatists.
But for Alain De Neve, of Belgium's Center for Security and Defense
Studies, Moscow and Tbilisi have made the connection even if the
West doesn't want to.
"Without the issue of Kosovo's independence I don't think that we
would have seen this (Georgia) story unfurl as quickly as it has,"
he argues.
"Those opposed to recognizing Kosovo's independence feared above
all that it would unleash a series of declarations of independence.
But that provoked the intervention of one state, Georgia, which
wanted to keep control of all its territory," De Neve told the AFP
news agency.
Kosovo link goes back to NATO's 1999 war
Thomas Gomart of the French Institute of International Relations
also believes that "the backdrop behind Russia's moves was the
West's behavior in Kosovo, with the launching in 1999 of a military
operation without a United Nations mandate and then recognizing its
independence ... despite Moscow's opposition."
However in his opinion Russia will nonetheless think twice before
recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.
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Russia fought a number of ugly wars to subdue Chechnya
Just as Russia was opposed to Kosovo's unilateral move it would not
want to further encourage secessionist tendencies within the
Russian Federation, such as the Chechens, he said.
Russia is "more interested in maintaining an unclear situation in
the two (rebel Georgian) regions, which would allow them to
intervene when they wish."
Political science Professor Bruno Coppieters thinks the Georgia
problem will eventually have to be sorted out as part of a wider
solution.
"Russia can't expect a lot of countries to follow suit if it
recognizes the independence of the two regions.
"For their part Western nations haven't got the means to put
effective pressure on Russia. The most likely scenario is that the
conflict will become frozen again and, in the long term, there will
have to be a wider agreement between the permanent members of the
UN Security Council."
(Deutsche Welle)
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