Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
March 16, 2007 Friday
EXPERTS DISCUSS KARABAKH CONFLICT;
The use of military might in conflict resolution was discussed
by South Caucasus Research Center
AZERBAIJANI POLITICAL SCIENTISTS, MILITARY EXPERTS, AND JOURNALISTS
DISCUSS THE USE OF MILITARY MIGHT IN KARABAKH CONFLICT RESOLUTION; A
roundtable conference on Karabakh conflict resolution takes place.
The latest roundtable conference on the Karabakh conflict resolution
took place the other day on the initiative of the South Caucasus
Research Center. Political scientists, military experts, and
journalists discussed the possibility of a military operation in
conflict resolution. Experts were unanimous that the use of the army
in conflict resolution was both acceptable and actually necessary.
The Armenian and foreign intermediaries urge Azerbaijan to consider
"the realities" shaped by the outcome of the military campaign of
1992-1994. In other words, foreign mediators or the OSCE Minsk Group
essentially allow for the use of military might as an argument in
conflicts of this type in general and the Azerbaijani-Armenian
conflict in particular. Experts pointed out that the use of this
argument in conflict resolution did not necessarily mean its actual
employment with the aim to liberate the occupied Azerbaijani
territories. They are convinced nevertheless that delays in peace
talks or their absolute failure will leave the use of military might
the only option.
Experts believe:
1. The rise of Azerbaijan’s military expenditures (these days, they
equal Armenia’s entire state budget) is a positive factor in itself.
Baku therefore should continue the policy of maintaining military
superiority over Armenia and of trying to exhaust it economically.
2. Effective use of the military budget must be ensured. The matter
concerns both what goes directly to the Armed Forces and what is
spent on military hardware procurement. Experts do not think that the
government has been entirely successful so far.
3. Urgent measures are needed to improve the moral climate in the
Armed Forces. The latest events show that it leaves much to be
desired.
Experts are convinced that following of these suggestions will make
Armenia more constructive. They do not rule out the possibility,
however, that may find it necessary to use military might to resolve
the conflict.
Before it can be employed, however, the following should be made
absolutely plain:
1. that the army is not going to be used against the population of
Nagorno-Karabakh. On the contrary, Azerbaijan should make it plain to
the international community and to Armenians in Karabakh that it
regards the population of the area as citizens of the Republic of
Azerbaijan and that it is therefore prepared to shoulder the
responsibility for them and their safety;
2. that "Nagorno-Karabakh without Armenians" (the way it happened to
the Azerbaijanis in Armenia) is not the purpose of using the army and
neither is the determination of the future status of the territory in
question. The army is to be used only to speed up peace talks. The
widespread opinion in Armenia nowadays is that it should not turn
over to Azerbaijan the so called "liberated territories" i.e. the
occupied Azerbaijani districts surrounding Karabakh; and
3. that military might is only to be used to localize the conflict
and establish control over the state borders which is after all in
the interests of the international community. Reports of the US
Department of State and international organizations list the corridor
from Iran to Azerbaijan to Armenia and so on as one of the illegal
drug and weapons traffic.
Last but not least, military might should only be used in a scope
that will really speed up Azerbaijani-Armenian negotiations over the
Karabakh conflict resolution. It was emphasized at the roundtable
conference that liberation of a district or two was not going to
change the strategic correlation of forces and therefore couldn’t be
expected to accomplish anything.
Source: Ekho (Baku), March 13, 2007, EV
Translated by A. Ignatkin