ARIF YUNUSOV: "BY MOST PARAMETERS TODAY AZERBAIJAN IS MORE IMPORTANT FOR THE UNITED STATES, WESTERN EUROPE AND EVEN RUSSIA THAN ARMENIA AND ARMENIANS"

Today.Az
22 October 2008 [13:12]
Azerbaijan

"After the war with Georgia, present-day Russia considers that it
can change the international relations by way of force", said famous
conflict expert and political scientist Arif Yunusov.

According to him, in such a situation Azerbaijan’s policy should be
extremely cautious.

"On the one hand, we must not yield to provocations and act carelessly,
like the Georgian leadership recently did, we must attempt to settle
emerging problems in relations with Russia by political and diplomatic
means and attract the leading western countries to our side.

Commenting on the statement of famous Russian political scientist
Stanislav Belkovski who said that it is not urgent to speak of the
inviolability of borders after the collapse of several states and
appearance of many new ones, Yunusov said though states are permanently
collapsing and being created, it does not mean that international
laws have been annulled.

"The collapse of any country is profitable for someone, but this
is a different issue. In fact, the collapse and creation of new
states is still regulated by the international law. Of course,
these international laws are often violated, but nevertheless,
all, including Russia, try to justify their actions by referring
to international laws, which is understandable, for otherwise there
would be a chaos in the world", said the political scientist.

At the same time, he said after Kosovo and the recent recognition of
independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Russia, it is necessary
to review most things in the concept of international security and
the basic principles of the OSCE. "If it is not done, the process of
diffusion of international law may really start", said Yunusov.

As for Nagorno Karabakh he said the process of recognition of
independence of Nagorno Karabakh does not been apparent.

"It is admitted that the unilateral actions against Azerbaijan,
failure to take into consideration his interests may damage the
interests of most countries in the region.

We should not confuse two things: sympathies and antipathies. The
whole Christian world, beginning from western countries and to Russia,
are sympathizing Armenia and if everything was based on sympathies,
Nagorno Karabakh would have been recognized independent or annexed to
Armenia long before. But international relations are built on interests
both national and state, where Azerbaijan’s interests should be taken
into account.

By most parameters today Azerbaijan is more important for the United
States, Western Europe and even Russia than Armenia and Armenians,
though it does not mean that this will last forever. We must know
the real distribution of powers in the region and conduct a careful
external policy", said the political expert.