ALIYEV AND SARGSIAN CANNOT REACH A COMPROMISE
by Yury Simonyan
WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
November 25, 2009 Wednesday
Russia
The President of Azerbaijan threatened to regain Nagorno-Karabakh
by force
HIGHLIGHT: ILKHAM ALIYEV THREATENS OPPONENTS WITH A NEW WAR FOR
NAGORNO-KARABAKH; A new meeting of the Minsk OSCE group for the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem took place in Munich. Negotiations of
presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia Ilkham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsian
were conducted in the framework of the meeting. These were the sixth
negotiations this year dedicated to the Madrid principles of conflict
resolving.
A new meeting of the Minsk OSCE group for the Nagorno-Karabakh
problem took place in Munich. Negotiations of presidents of Azerbaijan
and Armenia Ilkham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsian were conducted in the
framework of the meeting. These were the sixth negotiations this year
dedicated to the Madrid principles of conflict resolving.
The meeting in Munich like the previous meetings did not promise
a breakthrough: stances of the parties regarding the problem of
Nagorno-Karabakh remain opposite. Multi-move theoretical configurations
offered by the intermediaries finally encounter the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and fragile constructions fall apart.
Baku considers the self-declared republic an integral part of
Azerbaijan and is ready to give broad autonomy to it within the united
state. Return of the "security belt" in the form of seven districts
(Kelbadzharsky, Lachinsky, Gubadlinsky, Fizulinsky, Zangelansky,
Agdamsky and Dzhabrailsky) around Nagorno-Karabakh) is demanded as a
matter of fact. The Azerbaijani party proposes establishment of joint
control over the Lachinsky Corridor that connects Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic with Armenia. The following procedure is proposed: return
of the occupied seven districts, return of all Azerbaijani refuges,
organization of a referendum about the status of Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic in the future to determine the fate of Nagorno-Karabakh once
and for all.
There is a serious problem in the latter item. According to the
constitution of Azerbaijan, organization of a referendum is allowed
in the framework of the entire Azerbaijani state but not in its
separate part or district. The authorities are not going to revise
this paragraph of the constitution. That is why it is easy to forecast
results of the common voting about the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh
in Azerbaijan.
The Armenian party considers return of some districts from the
"security belt" to Azerbaijan at the present stage, as well as
return of refugees but in exchange for recognition of independence
of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and firm guarantees of non-restarting
of hostilities. Along with this, the Armenian party reminded that
parts of Shaumyanovsky, Martakertsky and Martuninsky districts of
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic turned out to be under jurisdiction of Baku,
a referendum about the status was already organized in Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic and 99% of the population voted for independence.
These serious contradictions between Yerevan and Baku were aggravated
by hard statements of the Azerbaijani President at a meeting with
refugees at the end of the last week. Aliyev announced, "This meeting
should play the decisive role in the process of negotiations because
several meetings took place this year but they did not provide
any result. If this meeting has no result too, then our hopes for
negotiations will come to an end." Aliyev emphasized that only the
military way of restoration of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan
would remain after that. He said, "We spend billions, reinforce our
army and buy new armament and military hardware. We have a full right
to liberate our lands by the military way. If Armenia believes that
we will participate in these negotiations permanently, this is a
mistake." According to Aliyev, whereas 10-15 years ago there was a
balance both in the military and economic fields, this balance was
broken a long time ago.
Official Yerevan reacted to the verbal attack of Baku quietly. A
top-raking source said, "We have already got used to threats of
Azerbaijani politicians who ignore recommendations of international
institutions to avid aggressive rhetoric. Any conflict is resolved
by a way of compromises. In our case the Azerbaijani party does not
wish to make any concessions."
Having received rejection of the submitted bill "On recognition
of independence of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" by the government,
opposition parliamentary faction Heritage is considering a possibility
of organization of a referendum dedicated to this issue. Deputy Foreign
Minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan announced, "Recognition of
independence of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic by Armenia at the current
stage is not expedient and passing of such bill is untimely."