14 YEARS OF CEASE-FIRE IN THE KARABAKH CONFLICT ZONE
PanARMENIAN.Net
13.05.2008 GMT+04:00
The initiator of the cease-fire was Russia, which wanted to spoil
the relations with Azerbaijan.
On May 12, 1994 the Bishkek Protocol about the cease-fire in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone was signed, and on May 16 the meeting
of the Minister of Defence of Armenia Serge Sargsyan, the Minister of
Defence of Azerbaijan Mamedraffi Mamedov and the NKR Army Commander
Samvel Babayan took place on May 16 in Moscow. During the meeting the
agreement on cease-fire which had been reached earlier was confirmed. A
document "Agreement on the order of the realization of the Protocol
of February 18 of 1994" anticipating the raising of the troops of
Karabakh and Azerbaijan, and the establishment of the buffer zone
between the countries, was also prepared.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The document was signed by the Ministers of Defence
of the Russian Federation and Armenia Pavel Grachev and Serge Sargsyan,
as well as the army commander of the NKR Defence Samvel Babayan.
Yet the Minister of Defence of Azerbaijan Mamedraffi Mamedov did not
sign the document – he was urgently called to Baku. The document was
signed a bit later in Baku. Regardless this, the long-term cease-fire
was ensured in the zone. The cease-fire, firstly, was necessary for
Azerbaijan, which in the result of impetuous offensives of the Army of
the NKR Defence lost one position after another. Baku realized that if
they do not stop the Armenians, they may lose the Gandzha Airport,
which is the second important airport in the Caucasus, miss the
control over many territories, and perhaps the war would reach Baku.
Heydar Aliyev would not let this happen. Aliyev was well aware of
the fact that only Russia could stop the Armenian offensive. The
fact that Azerbaijan has feared the offensive of the Armenian Army
was obvious before and now. The Ambassador Vladimir Kazimirov, who
was in 1992-96 the head of the Russian mediation mission, as well
as the Nagorno-Karabakh representative of the RF President and also
the participant and the co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, opened a
little secret. In the article published in the newspaper "News Time"
he wrote: "The stubborn battle of the spring 1994 at Terter, which
is to the north of Stepanakert, was fraught with new troubles for
Azerbaijan. The Armenian outlet to the River Kur would cut off the
north-western prominence of Azerbaijan (this is exactly what happened
in the southwest in 1993 with their outlet to the River Arax). Baku
did not insist on its preconditions any more and was ready for a
long-term cease-fire."
The initiator of the cease-fire was Russia, which wanted to spoil
the relations with Azerbaijan.
According to the Russian political scientist Alexander Mzareulov,
the relations of Russia with Azerbaijan, the richest county of the
Caucasus, turned out to be spoiled because of the events of Sumgait
in 1988. "The national course of President Elchibey also had rather
negative outcomes. The relations were damaged, but not completely
spoiled. We did not take part in the conflict from the part of
Armenia. We did not take up the function of establishing peace,
this is OSCE’s role and our troops have nothing to do here.
Objectively speaking Azerbaijan is at the moment interested in good,
but not allied relations with Russia (particularly after the calming
down in Chechnya). This has its many reasons; they are the economical
interests of the huge Azeri Diaspora in Russia (about 3 million),
the joint "game" in the oil market, the problem of the Caspian Sea
and others.
Regardless the declarative urge to be integrated in NATO, today
Azerbaijan for us is a relatively neutral country," he says. Mzareulov
also mentioned that the Karabakh problem, of course, remains the
biggest problem, but "the decrease of the tension also depends on
successful progress in other regional conflicts and first of all in
Georgia and also on whether the Russian authority as a big peacemaking
power grows or falls in the region."
However for Armenia signing the Protocol was also a positive step. The
Bishkek Protocol about the cease-fire between the Nagorno-Karabakh
and Azerbaijan is the first document, where the Nagorno-Karabakh was
mentioned as the official party of the conflict. The Protocol was
signed by the Ministers of Defence of NKR, Azerbaijan and Armenia
as a guarantor of the safety of Karabakh. "Thus on May 12, 1994 the
Nagorno-Karabakh became full member involved in the negotiations. The
peaceful agreement, if it is signed in the near future, must be signed
by the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan," says the political scientist
Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan.
According to the Director of the Caucasian Institute of Mass Media,
political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan, the Bishkek Protocol itself
is not as important as the fact that it is 14 years that between the
conflicting parties the cease-fire regime has been maintained. "The
current stage of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict may be quailed as
"peaceful". I do not agree with those who call the negotiation stage
"no war, no peace". If there are no shootings, it means that there
is peace. The Bishkek Protocol was the document which fixed the
situation between the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan in 1994. And
this situation continues till today," mentioned Iskandaryan.