Azeri daily downbeat on Karabakh discussions at UN

Zerkalo
29 Oct 04

The UN General Assembly has considered a request by Azerbaijan’s
permanent representative [in the UN] to include the issue on the
situation on the occupied territory in the agenda of its session. A
report on the UN’s official web site said that with a vote of nine
in favour and 14 abstentions, this issue had been recommended to be
discussed at the General Assembly.

The Azerbaijani side insists that the ongoing conflict in Nagornyy
Karabakh has resulted in the occupation of a considerable part of
Azerbaijani territory, in evictions of numerous people from their homes
and in the great damage that was inflicted on its national economy. In
addition, the submitted document says that “the activity of the OSCE
Minsk Group, which deals with the Nagornyy Karabakh problem, has
yielded no results since illegal actions are still being committed
on this territory, in particular, the Armenians are being resettled
there to create a new demographic situation”.

[Passage omitted: France said the discussion in the UN could impede
peace talks; Armenia denies claims on the resettlement]

The OSCE Minsk Group will hardly agree that “the Karabakh issue”
is once again put on the UN agenda. The thing is that immediately
after the decision to set up the OSCE Minsk Group on 26 March 1992,
the UN Security Council decided to refrain from being involved in any
peace-keeping operations in Nagornyy Karabakh but to render support
to the OSCE.

[Passage omitted: the UN have adopted four resolutions on the conflict;
background of the OSCE mediation]

During the entire period of its activity, the OSCE Minsk Group, in
fact, aimed not so much to resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict
as to prevent a new war, confrontation and tension between the two
countries.

Even if this issue is discussed at the UN General Assembly, decisions
taken there will not be mandatory [for the country].

If the Azerbaijani side makes efforts to be well prepared and during
the discussion stresses the importance of not settling the conflict,
which the UN had delegated to the OSCE Minsk Group, but considering
the situation on the occupied Azerbaijani territories, where illegal
actions are being committed, i.e. migrants are being settled to change
the demographic situation, the international community might demand
that Armenia give up its policy.

[Passage omitted: similar ideas reiterated]

It is noteworthy that Baku has recently made optimistic statements,
despite the fact that the inclusion of “the Karabakh issue” in the
assembly’s agenda will escalate confrontation. Experts believe that
Baku’s move might “bury” pressure exerted on Baku by super powers to
make it sign “an unfavourable peace accord”.

In any case, we should not pin our hopes on the world community
believing that it will solve this problem. All these statements
and resolutions will hardly help Azerbaijan settle its territorial
problem… [ellipses as published].

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress