VLADIMIR KAZIMIROV: IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT FORMULATION “TERRITORIES
FOR STATUS” SHOULD BE REPLACED BY FORMULATION “TERRITORIES FOR
SECURITY”

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, NOYAN TAPAN. The attention of the world community
should be drawn to the fact that it’s about two years that Azerbaijan
has been conducting the official systematic campaign of threats of
application of force.

Vladimir Kazimirov, former Russian Co-chairman of OSCE Minsk Group,
declared this on March 29 in Yerevan, speaking at the parliamentary
hearings on Karabakh settlement. According to Kazimirov, the campaign
of official Baku aimed at “returning to the battlefield without coming
up to the negotiations table” should have the official response of
OSCE. He mentioned that such conduct is contrary to the efforts of
this organization, under the aegis of which the negotiations process
was held for 13 years, and to the direct obligations of all OSCE
member states. The reporter said that Azeri President Ilham Aliyev,
for whom the Karabakh settlement is much more dangerous than for
father Aliyev, toughened the conditions in order to avoid agreement.

Mentioning that the audience won’t like many statements in
his speech, Kazimirov declared that the hearings once more confirm
that when speaking about the settlement of such a complicated conflict
as Karabakh one “complacency is harmful even for those imagining
themselves winners.” He mentioned that both during the hearings and in
Armenian press the territories beyond Nagorno Karabakh bounds are
called released. In the period of war we might speak about deliverance
from weapon emplacements from where the Karabakh populated areas were
fired, while such a vocabulary is inadmissible in conditions of search
for peace. The reporter also declared that Armenia will manage to hide
under the mask of the guarantor of Nagorno Karabakh security. “It’s a
very convenient position – to consider as if this is an Azeri-Karabakh
conflict and Armenia keeps aside and only morally sympathizes,” he
mentioned and called on to be engaged in real politics.

In the reporter’s opinion, this “propaganda fundamentalism” won’t help
Armenia in international organizations. Vladimir Kazimirov was
surprised at the claims of the Armenian party to David Atkinson’s
report. In his opinion, “this is an attempt to characterize the state
of affairs for the present moment, and what is extremely important,
without going either into the essence of the conflict or its course.”
Kazimirov called the attempt to choose between the principle of
territorial integrity and right to self-determination a deadlock
way. In his opinion, “the pragmatic unprincipled transactions are much
more productive when even if something may be exchanged for another
thing.”

Speaking about the sides’ discussions on package or stage-by-stage
solution, Kazimirov said that the package solution would be ideal but
it can’t be realized in the foreseeable time. “You also won’t agree to
the package, in which Nagorno Karabakh will be hidden within
Azerbaijan’s staff,” the reporter said. He also added that signing of
such a package by Azeri President will be equal to “hara-kiri” for
him. Kazimirov advised to be guided by the stage-by-stage solution
though not by the one suggested by Azerbaijan. In his opinion, the
formulation “territories for status” has one more flaw – it is of
forcible origin though it’s obvious that the forcible solution is
primordial and was thrusted by the opposite side.

Kazimirov considers the principle “territories for security” more
vital and real and considers it necessary to receive real guarantees
of security from Azerbaijan while applying the last principle.