ALIYEV: GARABAGH STATUS IS A MATTER OF TIME
AzerNews Weekly
July 8 2009
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh, a
region currently under Armenian occupation, could be granted temporary
status until the two countries reach a solution, but the final status
is "a matter of time."
In an interview with Russia`s Vesti v Subbotu (News on Saturday)
television program, Aliyev said the proposals on the conflict
settlement that are under discussion and have been agreed do not
cover the status issue. "This requires 10 years, and maybe, 100 years."
The Azerbaijani leader did not rule out that it will not be possible
to resolve the status issue at all. He emphasized that, if this topic
is put forward as a pre-condition for agreeing the positions of Baku
and Yerevan again, no accomplishments will be made.
"It is therefore necessary to comprehend the realities of
life. Certainly, Upper Garabagh should have a certain status. We
understand that. But, I reiterate, we do not fathom that status outside
the sovereign Azerbaijani state. We do not consider Upper Garabagh`s
being an independent state possible, and Azerbaijan will never agree
to this. In appears to us that the Armenian side realizes this as
well. At the same time, the Armenian side believes that the level
of self-administration that is currently in place in Upper Garabagh
should be preserved."
President Aliyev also said the parties to the conflict will not be
able to live in the conditions of war forever. Aliyev noted that,
despite increasing its military potential, Azerbaijan does not want
war to erupt. According to him, if Yerevan displays political will
and pulls its troops out of the occupied Azerbaijani territories,
the issue of determining the region`s status could, naturally, be
discussed in the future, following the return of displaced Azerbaijanis
to their homes in Upper Garabagh.
Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war over the mountainous region
in the early 1990s, which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced
about a million Azerbaijanis. Armenia has been occupying over 20%
of Azerbaijan`s internationally-recognized territory since then. The
ceasefire accord was signed in 1994. The OSCE is brokering peace talks.
The Azerbaijani president stressed that some advances have been
achieved in ongoing talks with Yerevan. The negotiating process,
though it is complicated, is heading in the right direction.
Aliyev said that, in essence, it has been agreed that, first of all,
Armenia must begin withdrawing its armed forces from Azerbaijan`s
occupied territories, to be followed by the return of Azerbaijani IDPs
to their native land. Furthermore, international guarantees are to
be provided for the safety of the citizens living in Upper Garabagh,
including Azerbaijanis who have returned home.
"We believe that, at this point, political guarantees are much more
substantial than military or any peacemaking ones," Aliyev said.
The president noted further that the sequence of the Armenian armed
forces pulling out of the occupied districts around Upper Garabagh
in stages is already in place, and this has been reflected in the
proposals of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.
"Immediately after an agreement is signed, at the initial stage,
withdrawal of the Armenian troops from five districts around Upper
Garabagh is to be carried out. As for the two districts located
between Armenia and Upper Garabagh, Kalbajar and Lachin, the pullout
is envisioned five years after the agreement goes into effect, taking
into account their very geographic position," Aliyev said.