WHO NEEDS NEW CLASH BETWEEN ARMENIANS AND AZERBAIJANIS?

KarabakhOpen
14-03-2007 12:22:48

The French co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Bernard Fassier confirmed
that the mediators do not put the return of the Azerbaijani refugees
at the basis of the settlement. According to Fassier, to start the
settlement from the issue of refugees is the same as to build a house
without a roof.

The Armenian side shares this opinion. A few days before the meeting
of the foreign ministers on March 14 in Geneva Vardan Oskanyan, the
Armenian minister of foreign affairs, said the issue of the refugees
should be the last issue to discuss.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan vigorously urges this issue as a priority in
the settlement. It has every reason to do. First, during the talks a
referendum on the status of Karabakh is proposed to hold, and according
to the mediators, the people of Karabakh should decide. Consequently,
the more Azerbaijanis return to Karabakh by the time the referendum is
held, the better for Baku. Besides, Azerbaijan knows that the Armenian
refugees will not agree to return to their homes in Azerbaijan,
whereas they can always "persuade" their refugees (or non-refugees)
to go anywhere. They are keeping their refugees in tents for so many
years now! The impression is that the Azerbaijani refugees are not
living in their homeland but in a hostile country where nobody cares
for their problems.

Azerbaijan has yet another reason. In Baku they cannot understand that
the return of the Azerbaijanis said to be aggressive would inevitably
lead to clashes with the Armenians. An everyday fight may grow into a
bloody slaughter which will be impossible to stop. And nobody will
wish to stop it. Everyone who "wants" stability in the region at
any price will benefit if one of the sides slaughters the other,
they may even be "lucky" if the scared Armenian population leaves
the region. And all the problems will be solved at once.

Would the international community allow this happen? Would it support
Azerbaijan or Turkey which perpetrate a new bloodshed instead of
solving the problems of their compatriots? Will this question be
discussed on March 14 in Geneva? And will it lead to failure in
the talks?