Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan

Europe Takes Azerbaijan as Real Reliable Strategic Partner: Azerbaijan
Strategic Studies Centre

28.09.08 12:05

Azerbaijan, Baku, 27 September /Trend News corr. R.Novruzov/ Trend
News interview with Elkhan Nuriyev, the Director of the Azerbaijani
Presidential Administration Centre for Strategic Studies.

Question: What is your appraisal of the success of the conferences
that have been lately held in Berlin and Moscow in terms of
positioning of Azerbaijan and informing the international community of
the realias about the country? Which issues were mostly debated?

Answer: The Berlin conference was organized by the Azerbaijani
Presidential Administration Centre for Strategic Studies and the
German Council for Foreign Policy (DGAP). That was a part of a range
of international conferences held by prestigious brain centres in the
run-up to the presidential elections in Azerbaijan.

The Moscow conference was organized by the Unity for Russia Foundation
and RussiaÑ – s Strategy magazine. The key goal of the Berlin and
Moscow meetings was to comprehensively analyze the domestic political
situation in Azerbaijan and the prospects of its further development.

German experts, diplomats and parliamentarians and Russian political
scientists, sociologists and economists are deeply interested in the
social and political situation in Azerbaijan in the run-up to the
presidential elections.

All people unanimously said that AzerbaijanÑ – s current President
Ilham Aliyev will be definitely elected to the second term and that he
is a non-alternative candidate. The European political elite say
Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev is drawing up a new political paradigm
Ñ – from stable economy to strong and flourishing state based on
democracy, market principles and free civil society.

The conferences may be considered to be a large success of the
national expert community of Azerbaijan at the international
scene. Our main credo is that to enable the international experts to
get more acquainted with current domestic political processes in
Azerbaijan, foreign political strategy and its priorities. The
greatest aspiration of European experts was to forecast the situation
which will occur in Azerbaijan after the elections and to determine
the guiding lines, to put it more precisely the replies, to the
question `which new trends may appear in Azerbaijan-Europe and
Azerbaijan-Russian relationsÑ – .

In fact, both conferences were held at a rather high level. During the
discussions, the European experts stated the importance of Azerbaijan,
dynamically developing and following an independent course, as a
factor of regional stabilization, as well as the importance of further
enhancement of mutually beneficial strategic relations between
Azerbaijan and the European Union, Azerbaijan and Russia. Both Russia
and Germany learnt more new facts from Azerbaijani experts about the
political and economic reforms carried out by the administration of
the country, the current problems of Azerbaijan related to settling of
the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Question: What must be the strategic guiding lines in cooperation with
European Union?

Answer: The question of energy security is one of the strategic
orientations in the co-operation of Azerbaijan with the European
Union. Europe uses the support of Azerbaijan, which carries out
balanced, multi-vector, diversified foreign policy, and Europe is
interested in obtaining energy resources from Azerbaijan.

Europe considers Azerbaijan as a real reliable strategic partner, but
the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the most
important strategic orientation in the co-operation with the European
Union for Azerbaijan. The EU must more actively participate in the
process of regulating Ñ – not only to observe the process, but also
strengthen its foreign policy actions in this direction in order to
actively participate in it.

Majority of experts at the conferences in Berlin and Moscow indicated
the need to form a new architecture of regional security, emphasizing
that the big powers of the world and international organizations
recognize territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, and
speak about liberation of Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia.

Answer: Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was one of the
issues discussed at conferences in Berlin and Moscow. What assistance
can Europe and Russia render in settling this protracted conflict?

Answer: – Europe and Russia can do much in the solution of conflict
because the EU is represented in the OSCE Minsk Group, and Russia is
the key player on the South Caucasus territory. Therefore, Russia and
EU must activate their efforts to regulate this conflict. It is
necessary that Russia and EU would more actively contribute to the
solution of problem in order to establish durable stability and
long-term security in the region.

Unfortunately, still the destructive position of the neighboring side
prevents the solution of conflict. Therefore, in Berlin and Moscow
thoughts were sounded that Armenia should seriously think of its
position if it is interested in stability and security the entire
region, in which Azerbaijan and all other countries of region are very
interested.

Question: Over recent period, activation is recorded in
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. How do you consider real the solution
of conflict in near future?

– Much in this question depend on Armenia. Despite the declarative
character of the last statements, Armenia must seriously think of a
change in its position and approach the question of regulating
conflict from a pragmatic point of view because the country is in a
very difficult situation, isolation. Armenia itself is guilty of the
fact that it does not participate in any of the transnational projects
of geopolitical importance, in which Azerbaijan and Georgia operate.

In the case of regulating conflict, Armenian economy will obtain great
possibilities for the development and it can become connecting link in
South Caucasus. Here much depends also on the Armenian-Turkish
relations, but still there are no real advances from the Armenian
side, yet all these take only declarative character. In the solution
of conflict, much depends on the real and pragmatic proposals of the
co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, on the active position of big
powers – Russia, European Union and the USA.

I must say that the European political elite contains a clear opinion
that even in spite of million refugees, unsettledness of conflict,
Azerbaijan develops, continues to remain dynamic, stable country, and
is the leading state in the region.

It was especially noted during both conferences that Azerbaijan is
already regional power and serious geopolitical player in South
Caucasus, which allows many European politicians and experts to make
appropriate conclusions regarding the future of Azerbaijan.