AZERBAIJAN CALLS FOR RETURN OF REFUGEES BEFORE REFERENDUM
Today’s Zaman
Aug 4 2008
Turkey
Azerbaijani officials have commented on a statement by US Assistant
Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza on
the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region over the weekend, saying that
the status of the area can only be determined after the return of
Azerbaijani refugees and displaced persons.
Bryza, who co-chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, had spoken to the press after
a meeting between the Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers in
Moscow. "Nagorno-Karabakh residents will decide for themselves
whether the republic will be under Azeri control or be independent,"
he noted, adding: "Nagorno-Karabakh residents will make their decision
at a referendum."
In response to Bryza’s statements, Novruz Mammadov, head of
the international relations department at the Azeri presidential
administration, said, "A referendum on Nagorno-Karabakh’s status is
possible in 15 to 20 years," adding, "These processes may become
possible only after the return of Azeri refugees and displaced
persons."
It is important to have bilateral relations based on trust
and political will, Bryza noted. He also warned against blocking
the talks on the disputed area. OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairman Yuri
Merzlyakov noted that an active role should be played by the group in
the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. "The current process — the
meetings between the presidents, foreign ministers — means that the
Minsk Group is functioning normally, and the sides to the conflict,
Armenia and Azerbaijan, have a constructive attitude toward each
other," Merzlyakov said.
Baku lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent
districts in the course of a bloody conflict that began in the 1990s
between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis, who fought for control over
Nagorno-Karabakh. As a result, about a million Azeris became refugees
and were forced to relocate. The UN Security Council criticized
the seizure of the Azeri territory and demanded a withdrawal of the
Armenian forces. Talks on the issue are currently under way. The OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairmen representing Russia, the US and France are
seeking a settlement of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
On another front, Azerbaijan has suspended the activities of Western
Union and MoneyGram because they operate in Nagorno-Karabakh,
Azerbaijan’s central bank said Friday. "Transfers and receipt of
money under these systems have been completely suspended in all banks
of Azerbaijan," the statement said. "This is in connection with the
possibility of receiving transfers through Western Union and MoneyGram
in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh."
"All 42 banks who are members of the Azerbaijan Banks Association
[ABA] support the central bank’s decision as it is based on the
national interests of Azerbaijan," ABA head Eldar Ismailov told
Reuters. "Despite all requests from Azerbaijan, Western Union and
MoneyGram have continued to do money transfers in occupied Azeri
territories," read a separate central bank letter to local banks. "The
central bank has recommended to banks working in Azerbaijan that they
stop using these systems for money transfers," it added.
The news came as foreign ministers from Armenia and Azerbaijan
met in Moscow on Friday to seek a peace deal on the conflict in
Nagorno-Karabakh. Western Union and MoneyGram have no offices in
Azerbaijan, but their currency transfer systems have been operational
there since the 1990s. A representative of the International Bank
of Azerbaijan told Reuters that the country’s banking system won’t
suffer big losses as a result of halting operations with Western
Union and MoneyGram. "I think the losses that Western Union and
MoneyGram will suffer from not having operations in Azerbaijan will
force them to reconsider the situation in favor of Azerbaijan,"
the representative said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
