AZERBAIJANI MP: TURKEY WILL GET NO BENEFIT FROM TRADE TIES WITH POOR ARMENIA

Today
0778.html
Feb 3 2010
Azerbaijan

Day.Az interview with member of Azerbaijani Milli Majlis (parliament)
Gultakin Hajibayli.

In your opinion, once the United States and Europe want to see thaw
in Turkey-Armenia relations, why them not to do it by resolving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict given that Turkey has linked these two
processes with each other?

If the U.S. and Europe had a political will in relation to the Karabakh
conflict, the matter would have long been resolved. Today there
are a number of legal prerequisites for resolving the territorial
dispute. These include a number of resolutions by the UN Security
Council (the latter was adopted in 2008) and PACE (2005).

The world powers just lack a political will get these decisions
implemented. Unfortunately, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are more
interested in clarifying the relationship between themselves, rather
than to facilitate the settlement of the conflict.

Though Turkey has announced on many occasions it will not open borders
with Armenia until there is significant progress in the Karabakh
problem, the United States and Europe still put pressure on it to
ensure that Ankara does not connect these two issues.

It is worth noting that the West is interested in expanding Turkey’s
influence in our region, because it wishes to extend its influence
in the region through Turkey. In the meantime, the U.S. and Europe do
not want an open confrontation with Moscow which has its own interests
in the Caucasus.

Thus, it turns out that the issues of restoring Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity and return of refugees to their native lands
are not being solved because of the geopolitical struggle between
various forces in our region.

Some experts believe that Turkey may establish diplomatic relations
with Armenia without opening the border between the two states. What
is your view on this issue?

Given that Turkey has stated many times that it considers Azerbaijan’s
interests as its own, such scenario of events are unlikely to happen.

If Turkey establishes diplomatic relations with Yerevan, it will
cause great damage to relations with Azerbaijan.

It should be understood that the closure of the Armenian-Turkish border
is more political than economic in nature, because Turkey will get no
benefit from trade relations with poor Armenia. If the border opens,
it will look like some kind of political rehabilitation for Turkey.

Given these factors, as well as Ankara’s repeated statements that
the rapprochement with Armenia is completely dependent on progress
in settlement of the Karabakh conflict, I think that probability
of establishing diplomatic relations between Ankara and Yerevan are
equal to zero.

What is the current balance of powers in the PACE (including committees
and subcommittees) in terms of the Karabakh issue?

There is enough forces in the Council of Europe who realize that the
double standards with regard to the principle of territorial integrity
of States is equal to playing with fire. Violation of this principle
would be reshape of Europe and disintegration of the EU. PACE has
a clear understanding of this and therefore supports territorial
integrity of countries such as Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Another thing is that the support to Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity
is less enthusiastic than to that of Georgia. But this fact did not
prevent adoption of PACE Resolution No. 1416, which fully supports
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. This suggests that Europe does
not recognize the situation that appeared as a result of aggression
describing the regime in Nagorno-Karabakh as separatist.

So, we can say that the CE has a clear position on settlement of the
Karabakh conflict.

During the latest PACE hearings on the property rights of refugees and
internally displaced persons, my report on Azerbaijan was listened
to with great interest and understanding. However, Armenia’s report
which accused Azerbaijan of all "earthly sins" was met with sarcasm.

This again shows that despite the fact that Azerbaijan has started to
work actively with Europe on the Karabakh issue later than Armenia,
its position is becoming stronger. Although a number of forces still
support Armenia’s view on the Karabakh conflict in PACE, majority
of forces still adhere to common sense and understanding of the
fundamental principle of territorial integrity of States.