Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
May 11, 2007 Friday

THE LIMIT OF COMPROMISES IS EXHAUSTED?

by Tunzale Kasumova

PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN, ILKHAM ALIEV, ANNOUNCED SOME DETAILS OF
NEGOTIATIONS ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH REGULATION; Throughout last Friday,
reports of news agencies were started by news about the opening of a
new cottage camp for refugees in the Romany settlement near Baku.
However, such close attention of the press was attracted not by the
event as such, but by statements released by President of Azerbaijan
Ilkham Aliev at the ceremony of the camp’s opening. Aliev voiced the
main principles of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
explaining that he had to disclose the content of confidential
negotiations only because the Armenian party "tries to distort the
essence of the negotiations going on and achieved agreements."

Throughout last Friday, reports of news agencies were started by news
about the opening of a new cottage camp for refugees in the Romany
settlement near Baku. However, such close attention of the press was
attracted not by the event as such, but by statements released by
President of Azerbaijan Ilkham Aliev at the ceremony of the camp’s
opening. Aliev voiced the main principles of resolving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, explaining that he had to disclose the
content of confidential negotiations only because the Armenian party
"tries to distort the essence of the negotiations going on and
achieved agreements." For example, Aliev meant statements sounding
during the election campaign in Armenia, saying that the current
package of proposals of the Minsk OSCE group makes provisions for the
liberation of five of the seven occupied Azerbaijani districts.

Aliev said: "We were offered this option but rejected it. Now there
is an agreement on the liberation of exactly seven districts. There
is a general agreement on this. We can do this gradually but should
not draw out the process. It is necessary to settle this in a few
years." The return of the Azerbaijani population to Nagorno-Karabakh
will begin after the accomplishment of this process. The President
emphasized: "Armenia accepted this option." The ground communication
between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh will be done via the Lachin
corridor where insertion of peacekeeping forces is planned. Only
after that will the status of Nagorno-Karabakh be determined in the
framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Aliev explains
that degree of autonomy will be higher than during the Soviet times,
but granting independence to Nagorno-Karabakh is out of the question.

At any rate, Aliev states that if peaceful talks fail to bring the
desired result, Azerbaijan can liberate the occupied territories
militarily and the country possesses the potential necessary for
this.

According to Aliev, in a report of the US Department of State on
human rights, Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts of
Azerbaijan are considered occupied territories.

Meanwhile, the real history of this formulation appearance in the
report of the US Department of State is full of intrigues. In a short
period of time it was corrected twice. At first, Nagorno-Karabakh was
excluded from the list of occupied territories under pressure by the
Armenian party. Afterwards, it was returned to this list as a result
of protests by Azerbaijan. Although it is clear that a line in the
vast report of the US Department of State cannot solve this problem
in one fell swoop, some observers presume that the collision and its
results can feed up the current firmness of the Azerbaijani
President.

Source: Severny Kavkaz (Nalchik), No. 17, May 06-12, 207, p. EV