ARMENIAN LEADERSHIP INSISTS ON OPENING OF BORDERS WITH TURKEY AGAINST ITS WILL: POLITICAL EXPERT

Today
328.html
Nov 9 2009
Azerbaijan

Day.Az interview with renowned Azerbaijani political expert Vafa
Guluzade.

Day.Az: OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Yuri Merzlyakov of Russia, Bernard
Fassier of France and Robert Bradtke of the U.S. tripped to the region
recently. Do you believe the current visits of the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs to Azerbaijan and Armenia will lead to significant progress
in resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?

Vafa Guluzade: I am confident that it will not. The persons specified
as OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are minor functionaries. True co-chairs
of OSCE Minsk Group are the presidents of the United States, France
and Russia who, quite possibly, even do not really know what Mr.

Merzlyakov, Fassier and Bradtke do during their visits to Baku and
Yerevan. This troika gets pretty good pay, they fly to Baku and
Yerevan and taste the Azerbaijani and Armenian cuisine. Position of
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries does not enable to hope for
a change in their attitude towards the process of resolution of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

It would be appropriate to note that the Azerbaijani side has recently
urged the U.S. to play a more active role in the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Q: Is there any hope that this appeal will lead to concrete actions
by the U.S. in a just settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?

A: I do not think that this will somehow impact short-term steps by the
U.S. on a just settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. We all witnessed the position of the United States recently
during the signing of Turkish-Armenian protocols in Zurich.

I was struck by pleasure of the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton in the course of the ceremony. Oh my God, the United States,
who suffered much from terrorists, shakes hands and embraces terrorist
Serzh Sargsyan, who was involved in the massacre of the peaceful
Azerbaijani population, in occupation of Azerbaijani territories
which displaced hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani from their homes.

Naturally, under such a policy, it would be naïve to expect the
superpower like U.S. to take steps for a just settlement of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Q: Recently, there have been much talks about Turkey’s becoming OSCE
Minsk co-chair. Do you think it is possible?

A: I believe OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries will make every
effort ensure opening of Turkish-Armenian border under any pretext.

Talks about the likelihood that Turkey will become co-chair of the
OSCE Minsk Group resumed against this background. All of these talks
have a single goal – minimize Azerbaijan’s discontent with possible
opening of Turkish-Armenian border.

They will try to present Turkey’s becoming co-chair of the OSCE Minsk
Group to Azerbaijan as a significant progress in a just settlement
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. But this is
ridiculous. Because, if countries like the United States and Russia
do not resolve different causes of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem,
Turkey has no chance to solve it either.

Q: Then why Armenia so nervously reacts to the idea that Turkey may
become OSCE Minsk Group co-chair?

A: The answer to this question lies in feelings of hatred towards the
Turks passed from generation to generation in Armenian. As a man who
had numerous talks with Armenian diplomats and politicians, I can
assure you that for Armenians a Turk man is a person whose raison
d’être is to cut heads of Armenians by yataghan. For this reason,
any mention of Turkey to Armenians is perceived negatively. Armenian
leadership insists on opening of borders with Turkey against its
will and certainly not out of love for Turks, but because of a need
to address its own serious economic problems.