AZERI OPPOSITION ACTIVIST ACCUSES RUSSIA, FRANCE OF PRO-ARMENIAN STAND

Yeni Musavat, Baku
29 Jan 05

Text of Kanan report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni Musavat on 29
January headlined “The mediators are trying to dodge responsibility”
and subheaded “Qabil Huseynli: ‘Great powers have complicated the
conception to resolve the problem'”

The French co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Bernard Fassier, made
an interesting statement during his familiarization visit to Baku. The
French diplomat said that the resolution of the conflict depends on
the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Noting that the Minsk Group
can only give support to the sides in building dialogue and peace,
Fassier said on the question of the liberation of Azerbaijan’s
occupied territories in 2005: “The presidents, not the co-chairman,
can order the pull-out of troops from those territories.” Like some of
his colleagues, the diplomat also gave a hint that concessions are
expected from Azerbaijan.

The French diplomat’s statement is not the first one of this
kind. Russian co-chairman Yuriy Merzlyakov has also made similar
statements recently. The resolution passed by the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe on Nagornyy Karabakh several days
ago stressed that the resolution of the conflict by and large depends
on the parties.

Can Fassier’s statement be regarded as a sign that the Minsk Group is
disavowing its responsibility? A deputy leader of the Musavat party,
Qabil Huseynli, told us that the French and Russian representatives
put forward the proposals, which contradict Azerbaijan’s interests,
under a strange scenario.

“First, Russia makes a proposal, then France starts supporting it. The
fact that the Russian diplomat insists on Nagornyy Karabakh being
recognized as a party (to negotiations) is clearly indicative of that
country’s pro-Armenian position, whereas the new French co-chairman
says that the resolution of the problem depends on the parties.”

The countries which are directly interested in deadlocking the
Karabakh conflict are trying to insure themselves by making such
statements, he said.

“Today, the great powers have complicated the resolution of the
problem so much, allowed so many double standards and made so many
ideological and political mistakes that finding a solution has become
even more difficult. These countries refuse to accept the notions of
the occupier and of the country under occupation despite this being
the ABC of any conflict. Today, they do not want to accept the fact
that Azerbaijani territories were occupied by the Armenian armed
forces and the entity called Nagornyy Karabakh functions as part of
Armenia and under the influence of its authorities. They are still
saying that there is no separatist regime, but a national liberation
movement in Karabakh. They are openly saying that the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict cannot be compared with Dniester, Abkhaz and other
conflicts. In other words, there are enough double standards in their
approach. In this case, there must be a mistake in the very approach
to a solution to the problem. Those states have intentionally made
mistakes in their approach to the problem. Now they are saying that
the parties themselves should find a common language.”

The expert regards the statement by the new co-chairman as a call for
Azerbaijan to make concessions.

“Armenia does not accept any concessions and faces no pressure, while
Azerbaijan is being persuaded to make concessions over the launch of
some projects and pressure. France and Russia have not recognized
Armenia as an occupying country so far. They stress the importance of
self-determination of nations when it comes to Azerbaijan, but when it
comes to other states they underline the importance of territorial
integrity. This insincerity brings the problem to deadlock.”

It is not right to implicate the OSCE Minsk Group, because the
co-chairing countries have the ultimate responsibility, he said.

“We need to look at the policy of the countries in the group. The
French co-chairman implements the instructions of his state. France
and its nationalist president Jacques Chirac blatantly support the
Armenians and Russia backs Armenia with which it has a strategic
cooperation treaty in every possible way. In other words, these
countries have made so many mistakes testifying to their pro-Armenian
position that these statements sound hypocritical.”