AZERI PUNDIT’S SPEECH PUZZLES OSCE MEDIATORS – AGENCY

Turan news agency
16 Jul 04

Baku, 16 July: There was a reception yesterday evening in the
residence of the US ambassador to Azerbaijan on the occasion of the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen’s visit to Baku. More than 100 guests
were invited to the reception, including representatives of political
parties, MPs, foreign ambassadors and leaders of a number of NGOs and
mass media.

All three co-chairmen addressed the guests on their vision of the
Karabakh conflict settlement. Each of the co-chairmen said that
reconciliation, compromises and concessions were necessary and that
achieving peace will be impossible without that, political analyst
(and former presidential aide) Vafa Quluzada has told Turan news
agency.

“No outsider can resolve the conflict and you have to reach an
agreement between yourselves. We are glad that the dialogue between
Armenia and Azerbaijan has resumed,” said one of the speakers. The
gist of all statements by the co-chairmen was that Azerbaijan had to
resign itself to the results of the occupation, drop the demands to
restore its territorial integrity and recognize Nagornyy Karabakh’s
independence.

“I reckon that such statements are absolutely inadmissible and
unacceptable. They pursue the goal of forcing Azerbaijan to stop
fighting for the liberation of its lands,” Quluzada said.

“I asked them to allow me to speak and told all this to the
co-chairmen. My indignation was caused by the efforts of the
co-chairmen to shift the responsibility for the ongoing conflict onto
Azerbaijan. We are the victims of the aggression and instead of
thinking how to liberate the occupied lands the co-chairmen are
demanding that we put up with the occupation. The co-chairmen are
deliberately making this blunder, calling the aggression a
conflict. No-one wants to recall the four UN Security Council
resolutions about the liberation of Azerbaijan’s occupied
territories. Russia’s position causes especial indignation. It
supplies Armenia with arms and signs a military alliance pact (with
Armenia),” Quluzada said.

Such sharp remarks puzzled the co-chairmen who asked someone else to
take the floor. However, the people who were there supported
Quluzada’s position by applause.

Quluzada believes that the idea behind the event was to persuade the
Azerbaijani public that concessions to Armenia were necessary. But
this idea failed.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress