AZERI OFFICIAL DIVULGES CORE PRINCIPLES OF NEW PROPOSALS FOR KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
Ekspress
Dec 10 2007
Azerbaijan
A package of proposals, dubbed as "the best compromises draft project",
envisages liberation of five Azerbaijani districts under occupation
at first stage, an Azerbaijani official has said. In an interview
with Ekspress newspaper, the head of foreign relations department
of the Azerbaijani presidential administration, Novruz Mammadov,
further divulged details of the document. The official believes that
Azerbaijan’s reaction to the "Madrid document" will soon be made public
once the president studies it. Mammadov blamed Armenia for abandoning
his pledges to the Minsk Group co-chairs. The official believes that
the people’s diplomacy cannot contribute to the resolution of the
problem. He called on Karabakh’s ethnic Armenians to share benefits
of Azerbaijan’s development and coexist peacefully. Nevertheless,
the former foreign policy aide, Vafa Quluzada, described the Madrid
document as "a trap" for Azerbaijan.
The following is the text of Alakbar Raufoglu report in Ekspress
newspaper headlined "’The best compromises draft project’ has been
made public" and subheaded "Novruz Mammadov: `Five districts must
be liberated at the first stage with Lacin and Kalbacar at the next;
the status of Nagornyy Karabakh might be discussed in 15-20 years’";
subheadings as published:
In an interview with our newspaper yesterday, the head of foreign
relations department of the Azerbaijani presidential administration,
Novruz Mammadov, made public details of the document on principles [of
the resolution of the Karabakh conflict] submitted to the Azerbaijani
and Armenian foreign ministers by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen
in Madrid last week.
The head of the department believes that "they are the proposals
which have been discussed under the Prague process for about four
years". A stage-by-stage resolution is the cornerstone of the document:
"In the first stage, five of the districts around Nagornyy Karabakh,
with the exception of Lacin and Kalbacar, and later on others
must be liberated one by one or both at once. Once this happens,
those districts must be cleared of mines, the infrastructure of
the territories must be restored, refugees must go their homes,
the communications between Armenia and Azerbaijan must be opened,
international peace-keepers must be deployed in the region although
Azerbaijan is ready to guarantee its pledges and the status quo in
the region must be restored."
Mammadov also added that Azerbaijan within the limits of the
settlement process is ready to give the go-ahead to the opening of
the Baku-Naxcivan railway and if possible to give consent to extending
it to Armenia. Baku proposes 15-20 years for these processes and then
is ready to determine Karabakh’s status.
At the same time, the official of the presidential administration said
that there was not any agreement to this effect so far: "Should this
be the case, the co-chairmen would not have submitted the principles
to the sides again."
As soon as the Azerbaijani president studies the document, he will
express his position and amendments will be proposed if need be. In
its turn, Yerevan should also express its attitude towards the
proposals. Nevertheless, Baku is anxious that the opposite side will
take advantage of the existing situation and try to win time.
Mammadov has drawn attention to Yerevan plans to speculate about the
conflict in the run-up to the election although the negotiations are
not frozen during the elections in Azerbaijan.
Kocharyan escaped for "consultations" from St Petersburg
Mammadov also responded to the Armenian president’s claims that there
were conditions to sign agreements twice on core Karabakh principles
alleging that they both did not take place due to Baku’s fault: "On the
contrary, Robert Kocharyan himself gave promises to the co-chairmen and
Azerbaijan more than once and went back on them at next meetings. This
was the case at the St Petersburg meeting in June 2007."
Mammadov recalled that a similar situation emerged twice in 1998 and
1999. At that time, the sides backed by international community did
really agreed. However, what has happened in Armenia did not allow
them to come true.
First, Kocharyan with his supporters succeeded in removing his
predecessor Levon Ter-Petrosyan from power, second, a terrorist act
was committed in the Armenian parliament: "Robert Kocharyan should
call a spade a spade if he bears them in mind. Because he himself
gave promises to the co-chairmen more than once and then extracted
them. For the last time, there were certain expectations in June
this year. However, Kocharyan said in St Petersburg that he should
consult. However, he had promised it earlier and it was a pretext."
"People’s diplomacy is inappropriate now"
The official also commented on international calls to take advantage of
the people’s diplomacy in the resolution of the conflict. He believes
that this is impossible at the current stage. Because Armenia is not
taking any steps to renounce its aggressive policy, and given this,
the people’s diplomacy cannot be successful: "The people of Armenia
are under pressure of their leaders. Therefore, given the essence of
the current relations, the people’s diplomacy is unnecessary and is
not justifiable. There is no place for it in the current anatomy of
the negotiations."
At the same time, Mammadov hailed the mutual visits of the Azerbaijani
and Armenian intelligentsia representatives [to Karabakh, Yerevan and
Baku] some months ago as "necessary". With this visit [to Karabakh]
Baku managed to verify available reports about Karabakh with what
happens there.
Mammadov believes that similar visits can be repeated if need be.
Mammadov also dismissed international concerns about Azerbaijan’s
belligerent statements because a resort to war is at the bottom of
Azerbaijan’s Karabakh conception. "But we should first analyze what is
behind the concern. They are probably concerned [at the statements]
because interest of them international organizations are exposed
to danger. Second, we believe Armenia is more concerned about the
situation and sends us messages through their Diaspora, lobbyists
on behalf of international organizations. However, international
community, the co-chairs and Armenia itself should know that sooner
or later Azerbaijan must regain its territories. Whatever option fits
them to have our territories returned, let them help us to follow
that option.
Baku’s message to the Karabakh Armenians
Baku hopes that the Armenian people will soon or later understand the
reality and show constructive position. Although the negotiations
stalled off, the regional processes advance. "Asked what is the
message of the Azerbaijani leadership to the Armenian public?"
Mammadov said:
"The key message is to the Karabakh Armenians. We want to say:
Armenians, be in your right mind. Despite wide-ranging processes
over many years, you have been the dearest citizens of Azerbaijan
and we coexisted as friends, neighbours and relatives, you tasted
the best of everything, you were in the best positions and posts,
and we can also continue them from now on. We are magnanimous and
share what we have with others. Now you on those territories can
benefit Azerbaijan’s current development and your life can be better
organized here than in France, the USA and Russia. Come and live here
within Azerbaijan’s sovereignty. This is the best way for you.
History will prove this once again."
Vafa Quluzada: "The Madrid document is a trap"
It should be noted that the abovementioned views deny what Yerevan
describes as the "emergence of fresh political realities" with
the presentation of "the best compromises draft project" submitted
[to the sides] by the OSCE Minsk Group. And the impression is that
the Karabakh negotiations are at low ebb. The sides uninterested
in meetings threat each other and the co-chairmen are engaged in
imitation. Despite their efforts "to bring the negotiations process
to an end", nothing comes out of this.
Therefore, they tried to sell their "peace principles" in their
hands for many months to the sides last week in written, however,
it is already obvious that with two months to complete his tenure in
office (the Armenian president will quit his post in February 2008),
Kocharyan can neither make a surprise move in the settlement process,
nor can threat Baku in a persuasive manner over its refusal from
the accepted agreements. In a nutshell, the key success of the "the
Madrid draft project" for Baku is that it deprives Kocharyan from
chances of manipulation with the Karabakh conflict.
However, another reality is that the co-chairmen have lost levers
on the sides especially to Yerevan. Given this, Baku has two
opportunities either to sit idle until the election year is over or
unleash hostilities by turning a blind eye to all dissatisfactions.
We should say that the sides were also close to agreements in the
peace negotiations for several times (in Key West, Istanbul); however,
a final step was taken back rather than forward.
Incidentally, in a conversation with Ekspress, the former state
foreign policy aide, Vafa Quluzada, who was closely involved in
the Karabakh talks in his time, described "the Madrid document"
as a trap. He believes that the principles are also deceptive for
Azerbaijan because keeping the discussion of the status of Nagornyy
Karabakh to future means to lose it.