NAGORNO KARABAKH AZERBAIJANIS EXPECT EXPLANATIONS FROM OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS
Today.Az
Nov 18 2008
Azerbaijan
On November 17, Day.Az with reference to Novosti-Armenia posted
extracts from announcements of two co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
on Nagorno Karabakh – Bernard Fassier (France) and Matthew Bryza
(United States).
In particular, the French co-chair said that "currently, the security
of Karabakh people is ensured by Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia,
on par with strong confrontation from the side of Azerbaijan. In
the future there is a plan to form complex measures to ensure
security of people of Karabakh and international guarantees under
Azerbaijan’s consent. In case there is an adequate replacement,
including international guarantees of security of the Karabakh people,
the lands can be returned".
In turn US co-chair Matthew Bryza announced that "the Karabakh people
must be secured from physical and economic pressures, which does not
however envision demilitarization of the region".
At the same time, the co-chairs noted that "the opinion of the Karabakh
people regarding such approaches has not been learned yet and it is
early to speak of their positions".
>From the moment of publication of extracts from Bernard Fassier and
Matthew Bryza’s statements, the news agency has received endless calls
from Azerbaijani internally displaced persons from Nagorno Karabakh,
in which representatives of the Azerbaijani community of this region
voiced a determined protest in connection with the irresponsible use
of the term "people/population of Nagorno Karabakh" by the co-chairs
and stressed incorrect (and even dangerous) understanding of this
concept by two diplomats. Day.Az joins the voice of protest of the
representatives of Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh, waiting
for the chance to return to their homes.
Either we are facing a deliberate distortion of words of the two
co-chairs by the Armenian journalists or the diplomats really consider
that the Nagorno Karabakh people is only a part of the population,
whose security is today ensured by the armed forces of Armenia. Isn’t
it early for the co-chairs to monoethnize the whole population of the
region and consider the forced expelling of Azerbaijani community an
irreversible fact? Perhaps, by implying only Armenian component under
the term "people of Nagorno Karabakh", the co-chairs try to persuade
the Azerbaijani IDP from Shusha and four other regions of Nagorno
Karabakh that them and their ancestors are no longer a part of the
Karabakh people, but if so, their security today is ensured by the
armed forces of Armenia "under strong confrontation of Azerbaijan"? It
is a strange care.
It is resulting from the co-chairs words that for monopolization
of the right to name itself "the Karabakh people" by one of the
two communities of Nagorno Karabakh, it must expel the other
community. Otherwise, how can their statements be explained? Who
are the Azerbaijanis, if not the integral part of this term? Or is
it possible to remove them from the demography of the region and
calmly stop to get interested in their opinion and speak of their
physical security? Perhaps, after their return they will still not
be considered one of the two components of the communities of the
Nagorno Karabakh people and will be considered immigrants on the
land of their forefathers? If no, why while speaking of the "Karabakh
people", the French and US co-chairs imply only Armenians and ignore
the Azerbaijani community?
The Day.Az news agency appeals to Bernard Fassier and Matthew Bryza
with a request to clarify their position in this issue and specify
what they imply by saying "people of Nagorno Karabakh". The news
agency also calls on them to specify the phrase "the opinion of the
Karabakh people has not been learned yet and it is early to speak of
their positions". In this connection, there is a reasonable question:
who will the consultations be conducted with to specify positions
of the Karabakh people – the leaders of only Armenian community in
Khankendi or the leaders of both communities?
The wide audience of Day.Az in the country and abroad, including tens
of thousands of Azerbaijanis from Nagorno Karabakh expects the two
co-chairs to explain these key issues.