AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA NEED TO SETTLE ISSUE OF RETURNING FIVE REGIONS

news.az
Dec 18 2009
Azerbaijan

Asim Mollazade Azerbaijan and Armenia need to settle the issue of
returning five regions and half of Kelbajar, deputy Asim Mollazade
says.

The Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Azerbaijan held
a roundtable discussion on "The Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict: outcomes of 2009 and further perspectives" with the
participation of leading political scientists, representatives of
the presidential administration, experts and mass media.

The process of settling the Armenian-Turkish relations is connected
with the campaign promises of US President Barack Obama and State
Secretary Hillary Clinton about the recognition of the so-called
"Armenian genocide", MP Asim Mollazade said in connection with the
recent situation with Turkish-Armenian rapprochement.

According to Mollazade, president Barack Obama and Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton coming to power realized immediately that the
recognition of the so-called "genocide" will result in a failure of
the US policy in the Middle East and the Caucasus.

"Looking for a way out of this situation, they decided to keep their
promises to the Armenian lobby in another way and to try to open
the border between Armenia and Turkey. Due to the tough stance of
Azerbaijan, our Turkish brothers understood danger of such developments
which helped prevent the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border
without the settlement of the Karabakh conflict ", said Mollazade.

The MP noted that Azerbaijan’s energy sector has successfully
diversified: "If we receive interesting proposals for the settlement
of the Karabakh conflict from Russia, we are ready to consider the
issue of additional supplies and transit of Azerbaijani gas.

Mollazade, referring to the current negotiations on settling the
Karabakh conflict, stressed that now there is a need to settle the
issue of returning five regions and half of Kelbajar. "There is
a possibility to sign a framework agreement, but still we have to
hold complicated negotiations on the return of the rest of Kelbajar,
Lachin and the settlement of the issue of Karabakh’s status", he said.

He also listed the main reasons of intensification of Russia’s role
in the negotiation process on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 2009.

According to him, one of the reasons was the August war in 2008.

"A new situation emerged in the region after the war. Russia is
the main initiator of changes in the region. Last year’s conflict
produced a definite situation in relations between Russia and the
West. Trying to smooth tensions, Russia has noticeably intensified
its peace efforts aimed at resolving the Karabakh conflict.

The second reason is the initiated struggle for the monopoly of gas
supplies to Europe. In this process, Russia seeks to control all routes
of gas supplies to Europe. Russia is interested in participation in
Azerbaijani gas supplies from new fields to Europe ", said the deputy.