INTERVIEW WITH SECRETARY OF NKR SECURITY COUNCIL K. BABURIAN

Azat Artsakh – Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)
May 10, 2004

Mr. Baburian, it is the tenth anniversary of the cease-fire on the
Karabakh front. Negotiations go on but even ten years later the
president of Azerbaijan again speaks about starting the negotiations
from the zero point. How would you characterize the present stage of
the negotiations and how big is the probability of breaking the
cease-fire? â^À^Ó The cease-fire signed by both Azerbaijan and Karabakh
and maintained for already ten years once again testifies to the fact
that for the settlement of any problem Azerbaijan must negotiate with
the government of Nagorni Karabakh. As to the new wave of appeals for
military actions, these have always existed. In my opinion, giving
consent to the construction of the pipeline Baku-Geihan and the
inflow of billions of loan Azerbaijan significantly reduced the
probability of solving the problem through military ways. The big
interests of great powers have come forth in the region, and the
great powers are not interested in destabilization of the situation
in the region, which they have stated for a number of times. As to
the negotiations, these are held confidentially. I cannot, therefore,
say anything definite about the latest meeting of the presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan. â^À^Ó Special reporter of the EU on Karabakh
conflict Terry Davis stated that in his report he would pay special
attention to humanitarian problems, especially that of the refugees.
During his visit to Stepanakert Mr. Davis stressed the necessity of
return of refugees of the both parties. Armenian refugees, as the
polls of public opinion show, do not want to return, whereas the
Azerbaijani refugees still living in tents are ready to return at any
moment. â^À^Ó How will these problems be solved? â^À^Ó The problems of
refugees, status of Nagorni Karabakh and the occupied territories,
which are guarantee of the security of the population, are mutually
interrelated. These are the core questions of the conflict with
Azerbaijan and must be solved in a complex way, that is in a package
way. â^À^Ó Let us suppose that the problem of the status of Nagorni
Karabakh is settled but at the same time 500 thousand Azerbaijani
refugees return to Karabakh. How will this affect the demographic
situation in the region and to what extent is the â^À^Üobligatory returnâ^À^Ý
of the refugees probable? I think any question, even the most
delicate one, may be discussed and mutually acceptable solutions can
be found. Azerbaijan must by all means sit at the table of
negotiations with Nagorni Karabakh. â^À^Ó The so-called organization for
liberation of Karabakh announced about its intention to organize a
march to Shoushi on May 9. It is true that according to the
Azerbaijani mass media the force agencies of that country did not
react to the appeals of that organization. Nevertheless, to what
extent are we secure and prepared for such actions? â^À^Ó This is an
utter lie. The entire state and its armed forces organized a â^À^Ümarchâ^À^Ý
against Nagorni Karabakh and were bitterly defeated; against this
background the announcements of a group of provocateurs may be
described as a propagandist gesture. â^À^ÜEchoâ^À^Ý of Baku proudly published
in one of its editions that diplomatic Azerbaijan had declared a
wide-scale war against the communication company â^À^ÜKarabakh Telecomâ^À^Ý,
and started the war in Uzbekistan. â^À^Ó Azerbaijan constantly conducts a
war against the people of Nagorni Karabakh and tries by all means to
deprive them of elementary conditions for a decent life. Thus Baku
proves that it does not recognize the population of Nagorni Karabakh
as its citizens. After the recent developments in Batumi and the
assistance of Sahakashvili to the Adzhars it is apparent that
Azerbaijan has never had such attitude towards the people of Karabakh
and has got used to the idea of losing it. â^À^Ó Let us continue the
topic of Adzharia. They say Adzharia will be followed by Abkhazia,
Osia, and all this will have its influence upon Karabakhâ^À¦ – Those are
completely different problems. In Adzharia people came out to the
streets with the portraits of Mikhail Sahakashvili and the slogan
â^À^ÜMisha, we are with youâ^À^Ý. Is it possible to imagine the people
organize a demonstration in Stepanakert with the pictures of Ilham
Aliev and express their solidarity? Besides, Adzharia has never had
the problem of seceding from Georgia and Adzharia never declared its
independence. â^À^Ó One more question. Recently, the question of
relationships of Armenia and Karabakh is widely circulated in the
Azerbaijani press. There were even articles with sensational
headlines such as â^À^ÜArmeniaâ^À^Ùs New Enemy â^À^Ó Karabakhâ^À^Ý, etc. In
fact, did
something come between Armenia and Karabakh? â^À^Ó I think it is natural
that the Azerbaijani machine of propaganda should try to tap a wedge
between Karabakh and Armenia. Unfortunately, certain adventurous
people favour them. All their attempts, however, are doomed. The
unity of the Armenian nation was obtained at a high cost through hard
trials and I am sure the people themselves will not allow anyone
disrupt their unity. â^À^Ó Recently the NKR parliament has made changes
in the staff of the Constitutional Commission. Does this mean that
the commission will activate its work? â^À^Ó On the whole the work on the
constitution was not interrupted, however, after the election to the
parliament, the rotation of the cadres 2/3 of the staff of the
commission was, actually, unable to work. As to the adoption of the
Constitution, this question was always on the agenda and had a
significant place in the election program of president Ghukassian.
Presently the constitutional experience of other countries is
studied. For us it will be easier in the sense that the basic laws
have been adopted and are in effect in our country. – And the last
question. There are rumours that the former minister of defence
Samvel Babayan was pardoned. Some people relate this with the pardon
of General Syuret Huseinov in Azerbaijan. â^À^Ó As the head of the
commission on amnesty I assure that we did not receive any
applications from either S. Babayan, or his next-of-kin applied for
amnesty. Besides, in the given case the initial application of the
convict is important because by the request of his relatives we
started gathering the necessary data for the amnesty and came across
such facts that the convict himself refused the application of the
act of amnesty. I must say that the president of the country had a
rather humanistic approach to the problem and continues to. It is
known that a number of other participants of the terrorist act were
released and the terms of the others were shortened. 

NAIRA HAYRUMIAN