Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
December 24, 2004, Friday

POLITICAL INDOCTRINATION LESSONS FROM ILHAM ALIYEV[]

SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, December 21, 2004, p. 5

by Rauf Mirtadyrov

PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN ILHAM ALIYEV IMPLIES THAT THE
RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN COOPERATION INTERFERES WITH KARABAKH CONFLICT
SETTLEMENT

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is critical of the role Russia
is playing in the Karabakh conflict settlement. Commenting on the
state of the Armenian-Azerbaijani talks on the subject, Aliyev
praised the progress in the relations between Baku and Yerevan made
in the course of the talks of their foreign ministers in Prague.
Foreign ministers Elmar Mamedjarov (Azerbaijan) and Vardan Oskanjan
(Armenia) chose Prague as the site of their regular talks. Four
meetings resulted in accords on fundamental principles of settlement.

Aliyev is convinced that progress is undeniable. What counts is that
Armenia and Azerbaijan “agree on the principles of settlement” and
this agreement was reached in the course of Prague consultations, he
said. “Should the negotiations remain constructive and should Armenia
stick to the accords as it already did more than once in the past, we
will make progress.”

At the same time, Aliyev is convinced that the Russian-Armenian close
cooperation may interfere with the process. Commenting on Duma
Chairman Boris Gryzlov’s visit to Yerevan last week, he said. “Duma
chairman called Armenia Russia’s bulwark in the southern part of the
Caucasus, the other day… We have always regarded Armenia as a
state. It turns out that this is but a bulwark.” Aliyev continued,
“So, who are we supposed to discuss things with now – the bulwark or
its master?” Aliyev is convinced that Yerevan must decide for itself
and only that will set favorable conditions for continuation of the
talks. “Armenia’s conduct as an independent state will enable us to
reach an accord in the near future,” Aliyev said.

It was the opinion of Azerbaijani experts that disgusted with the
Russian diplomacy’s fiasco in Ukraine, Aliyev would certainly
distance himself from Moscow, and pointedly turn to the West and
first and foremost to the United States. “Nobody expected it to
happen so fast,” independent political scientist Metin Yasharogly
said. “And nobody expected Aliyev to begin talking about Russia’s
destructive role in the Karabakh settlement.”

Comments on Aliyev’s statements in Yerevan were made on the level of
the president of Armenia. President Robert Kocharjan at a press
conference in Lori advised his Azerbaijani counterpart not “to
concern himself” with the Armenian-Russian relations. “The impression
is that Azerbaijan is constantly irked by the high level of our
relations with Russia,” Kocharjan said. “This jealousy is out of
place because there is nothing to prevent the Azerbaijanis from
building up similar relations with Russia.”

It seems, however, that Aliyev has chosen another way. Local experts
say that when Aliyev preached his political indoctrination lessons
for the benefit of Yerevan and Moscow, he sided up with the
pro-Western part of the Azerbaijani opposition that blames Russia’s
clout with Armenia for interfering with Karabakh settlement.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress