AMERICA IN HURRY OVER IRAN ISSUE
by Cavid Turan

Yeni Musavat
October 6, 2008 Monday
Azerbaijan

The USA has visibly increased its efforts to resolve the Karabakh
conflict following Russian aggression against Georgia. After the visit
to Yerevan and Baku by the US co-chairman of the [OSCE] Minsk Group,
Matthew Bryza, on instructions from Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice last month, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte made
a statement saying that Washington has boosted its efforts in the
Karabakh settlement.

Statements made by American officials from time to time about the
White House being interested in the speedy settlement of the Karabakh
conflict cause questions. One may wonder why the USA is interested
in the Karabakh issue while just a few months ago it voted against
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity at a UN vote.

Conflict expert Arif Yunus has said that in general, the USA has been
in a hurry to resolve the Karabakh issue as soon as possible since
2005 and that there are serious reasons for that.

"The USA is still in a hurry to resolve the Karabakh issue," Yunus
said. "America is mainly interested in Iran here. If you remember,
Turkey did not allow America to use its territory against Iraq. There
is no guarantee that the same situation will not arise in connection
with Iran. In this context, there are several obstacles to the USA
using Azerbaijani territory. The Karabakh issue and the Baku-Ceyhan oil
pipeline are the major obstacles. On the other hand, the Armenians may
start war any minute prompted by Russia. In view of this, America does
not care about whether Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan or Armenia. It
just wants the two countries to resolve the problem and stability
to be established in the region. After this, the USA can launch a
wide-scale action against Russia."

Yunus said that Russia, however, had a different position. "For Russia
as well, it does not matter who Karabakh belongs to. Moscow is trying
to use Karabakh as a baton to beat Armenia and Azerbaijan on their
head. Different opinions have been voiced in Russia regarding Karabakh
recently. In this way Russia wants to hamper Azerbaijan’s integration
into the West."

The expert does not believe that America’s increased efforts to
settle Karabakh will yield results. "These efforts do not mean that
America will achieve something. Russia will not let it achieve any
results in this issue. I witnessed this during my visit to Russia last
week. Representatives of the governing elite openly told me that we
are not the same Russia, we have power and we will demonstrate this
power. Therefore, I am pessimistic about Karabakh."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress