WAITING FOR A RAIN?
Lragir.am
25 Aug 06
Fires are typical of summers in Karabakh. Hundreds of hectares of
fields and forests have already burnt, however, so far no arrangement
has been made on who can help Karabakh put out the fires. Apparently,
the problem of fires may become another apple of discord in the
Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. Although those who keep kindling the
issue intend to reconcile the Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
Baku seems to have agreed to cooperate with the Armenians, however
it has assumed a position when cooperation is unacceptable for
the Armenian side. Say Azerbaijan threatens to report the issue to
the United Nations, knowing that Armenia has "threatened" to stop
negotiations in this case. Davit Babayan, political scientist from
Karabakh said, "It is dificult to explain such an unusual for Baku
standpoint. For so far the Azerbaijani government has refused to
cooperate with Nagorno Karabakh on any matter. It is clear that it
is imposible to undertake anything in these territories without the
participation of NKR," says Davit Babayan.
"The only explanation to such an unusual behavior of Azerbaijan is
pressure from the international community. The problem is that the
conflict over Karabakh cannot be settled without establishment of an
atmosphere of confidence between the conflict parties, first of all
between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan," said David Babayan.
One of the frequent topics of the Azerbaijani propaganda machine
is the fires. The analyst says, however, that this time the
international community does not believe the logic of the Azerbaijani
propaganda machine. The evidence to this is the report of the personal
representative of the OSCE CiO Andrzej Kasprzyk, stating that the fires
are the result of climatic processes and the unusually hot climate.
The Azerbaijani propaganda failed to confuse the international
community, moreover, the attitude of the international community was
highly negative.
Azerbaijan was advised to launch a project of joint struggle against
fires. "It was a strong blow to Azerbaijan which appeared in a
difficult situation on taking this advice. Now the government has
to explain their own people why they have to contact "separatists"
who "are destroying" the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan," stated
D. Babayan.
Now Armenia has to assume a corresponding stance. For government in
Karabakh is elected, and all the negotiations must be conducted with
the NKR government, not the foreign ministry of Armenia. And if the
international community will apparently go on persuading the parties
until it starts raining.