WEST READY TO ACCEPT "UNFAIR PEACE" IN KARABAKH

Zerkalo
April 17 2008
Azerbaijan

An independent Azerbaijani newspaper has said that the West wants to
resolve the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict in its own interests.

"The West does not want to fight instead of us," the Baku-based Zerkalo
newspaper reported on 17 April. "They want to sign a Karabakh agreement
as soon as possible in order to continue pumping Azerbaijan’s energy
resources under stable conditions and use its territories for strategic
aims. They are ready to support any unfair peace accord for the sake
of this."

Zerkalo said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent call
on Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the conflict over the disputed
territory was "a call on the Baku government for compromises".

"We do not have methods against the superpowers which openly protect
Armenia’s interests," the daily said. "Even if the Azerbaijani
leadership manages to refuse to sign a disgraceful peace agreement
soon, the issue about compromises will be on the agenda for a long
time."

In the same report, the paper quoted Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign
Minister Araz Azimov as saying that Russia should state its support
for the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict resolution on the basis of
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and within its internationally
recognized borders.

"The resolution of the conflict on the basis of territorial integrity
should be supported in practice," Zerkalo quoted Azimov as saying.

Zerkalo also quoted Voice of America as saying that in its recent
report, the US Department of State said that the US government did
not recognize Nagornyy Karabakh as an independent state and supported
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, adding that Karabakh’s status
should be defined through talks. The US State Department report
described as perfect the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group, which
mediates a solution to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, Zerkalo said.