IS MATTHEW BRYZA’S OPINION THE SAME AS THAT OF US STATE DEPARTMENT’S?
PanARMENIAN.Net
Analytical Department
13.07.2007 GMT+04:00
The USA treats Azerbaijan the way it treats Turkey.
"If you don’t support us in the Iranian issue, we will solve the
Karabakh issue and will grant independence to Karabakh".
During the ongoing military-political discussions held between the
USA and Azerbaijan the parties exchanged opinions regarding the issue
of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict resolution. In the course of the
press-conference in the US State Department the Azeri Deputy Minister
of Foreign Affairs Araz Azimov announced, that the given conflict had
been discussed within the frames of the discussions of the regional
security issues.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azeri diplomat emphasized that "Washington has
always recognized the independence and territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan". However, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Matthew Bryza
(USA) refused to comment on the issue of the US recognition of the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. "Discussions are held over
the question whether the principle of territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan is of more importance than the issue of nation’s right
on self-determination. There is no universal formula for this issue
accepted on the international level," he announced. Yet there is one
very essential detail to be mentioned in this regard. Araz Azimov
himself is the very person who decides who, what and when will say
anything in Azerbaijan. In fact, he is not only the Azeri Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs, but also the face of the foreign policy
of Baku. As for Matthew Bryza, he is the one who gives publicity to
the US State Department’s opinion though he doesn’t even have any
diplomatic rang; in other words, he is "the second" Araz Azimov.
"The revelations" of the American diplomat obviously poured like cold
water on Baku. No such announcement has ever been made by Washington
or other OSCE Minsk Group co-chair country over all these years of
the negotiation process. Armenia has already got used to the fact that
whoever comes to Baku and whatever the Azeri Media writes, everything
comes to the same thing; "territorial integrity of Azerbaijan". But
everything is not as easy as it would seem at first sight, said
Bryza. Today America needs Azerbaijan a lot, maybe even more than
Turkey; there is the issue of the Iran Nuclear program, which Bush
Administration can’t submit for anything. But on the other hand the
USA treats Azerbaijan the way it treats Turkey. "If you don’t support
us in the Iranian issue, we will solve the Karabakh issue and will
grant independence to Karabakh". The same measures are implemented
on Turkey, this time regarding the adoption of Resolution 106 on the
Armenian Genocide.
Meanwhile the political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan confirms
that the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan hasn’t been violated;
the army of Nagorno-Karabakh liberated its territories. "Europe and
the whole world in general don’t realize what the situation was after
the USSR breakdown. The Armenian diplomacy doesn’t work hard in this
matter. We must continuously explain the whole world where the borders
of the modern Azerbaijan lie," he mentioned.
The American or the European diplomats will hardly be ignorant of the
history of the modern Azerbaijan. The question is for what purpose
they use their awareness.
In the opinion of Armen Rustamyan sometimes political and economic
interests prevail in the Karabakh issue and the remarks of this or
that organization are initiated by these very interests. "And then,
of course, the contradictory statements make the situation more
complicated. If the world community wants to take up the responsibility
of conflict solving, which as is admitted by everyone should be done
in a peaceful way, it should first of all take into consideration
Baku’s announcements about the possibility of force implementation
in the issue," he said.