VLADIMIR KAZIMIROV: HAYDAR ALIEV DID NOT NEED THE POSITIVE RESULTS OF BISHKEK

ArmInfo
2009-05-19 15:51:00

ArmInfo. Oftentimes journalists say that the cease fire agreement was
reached in Bishkek May 5 1994. It is a mistake: the document signed
by the heads of the parliamentary structures of Azerbaijan, Armenia
and Nagorno-Karabakh was a protocol urging to stop fire May 9 night
1994, Vladimir Kazimirov, the vice chairman of the Association of
Russian Diplomats, the head of the Russian intermediary mission,
the plenipotentiary representative of the President of Russia
for Nagorno-Karabakh from Apr 1992 till Sept 1996, said during a
press-conference in Stepanakert May 19 2009.

ArmInfo’s corespondent quotes him as saying that Bishkek was just an
auxiliary link to the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of States
in Moscow Apr 15 1994, which adopted strong urge to stop the combat
actions.

"It was exactly for supporting the statement of the CIS presidents
that the speakers of the parliaments met in Bishkek. It was a useful
effort. But it was just an auxiliary action," Kazimirov said.

However, President of Azerbaijan Haydar Aliev did not need the positive
results of Bishkek as he was then solving quite different problems:
he was signing with NATO an agreement for joining the Partnership for
Peace program. The cease fire agreement was signed in unprecedentedly
hard conditions. Baku wanted to sign the agreement with Yerevan,
while the latter refused to sign it without Stepanakert. To try to
reconcile them meant to lose time and chance. So, the mediators had
no other way-out but to ignore the whims of the parties and to sign
the document in any acceptable form.

"In the office of Haydar Aliev in Baku we drafted the text of the
agreement for signing by the defense minister of Azerbaijan and the
commander of the Defense Army of Nagorno-Karabakh. We made three copies
for each of the parties. Azeri DM Mamedrafi Mamedov signed its copy in
Baku May 9 1994 in the presence of the Russian mediator. His Armenian
counterpart Serzh Sargsyan (presently President of Armenia) signed
his copy in Yerevan May 10, the commander of the Nagorno-Karabakh
army Samvel Babayan – May 11. Those copies were brought together into
a cease fire agreement in Moscow. As mediator Russia has confirmed
the identity of the texts and declared them effective May 12,"
Kazimirov said.

"The main thing was to stop the bloodshed. That’s why we decided to
sacrifice certain legal formalities like unity of time and place of
signing, one original copy with three signatures, juicy seal and nice
folder," Kazimirov said.