AZERBAIJANI MP: ARMENIA HAS NOT YET USED ITS CHANCE TO SECURE PROGRESS IN NK NEGOTIATIONS
A. Hasanov

Today
3020.html
March 3 2010
Azerbaijan

Day.Az interview with Chairman of Azerbaijan’s Party of Reforms and
member of the Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis (Parliament) Asim Mollazade.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will travel to France on March
9-11. What do you expect from this visit?

I expect nothing from this visit. This is the next visit to France
which is a home to a strong Armenian diaspora. Such visits serve
personal political goals of the Armenian leadership, which continues to
take an unconstructive position on settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

And what are your comments on Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian’s statement that Armenia has presented proposals on
outstanding items on the Madrid principles to the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs?

Armenia has not yet taken advantage of its chance of serious progress
in peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. But Armenia
still has such a chance. To do this, Armenia needs to accelerate
work with the OSCE MG making proposals that will truly lead to peace
rather than imitate the process of negotiations. All previous actions
of Armenian government demonstrated the country’s unwillingness to
take real steps for a just settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Can we say that non-constructive position of the Armenia leadership on
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict jeopardizes future of Turkish-Armenian
dialogue?

Certainly. After all, fate of the Turkish-Armenian dialogue depends on
a process of establishing peace in the South Caucasus region, which
envisages also settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in which
Armenian leadership displays an unconstructive approach. There is no
hope for opening of Turkish-Armenian border and full normalization
of relations between the two countries until the reason for which
Turkey closed its border with Armenia has not been eliminated yet. The
Turkish leadership has also reiterated this many times.

Meanwhile, at an opposition rally held in Yerevan on Monday, leader of
the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC), the first president
of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan declared that liberation of the five
occupied regions have been agreed upon and now negotiations focus
on status of Nagorno-Karabakh, peacekeeping forces in the conflict
zone and the future of the Lachin corridor. How do you comment on
this statement?

We would like very much to believe in Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s words, but
his statement was most likely dictated by domestic political realities
in Armenia and designed for the Armenian public. I stress once again
that all previous actions of the Armenian leadership displayed the
country’s non-constructive approach to resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, which does not give reason to make confident statements
about beginning of the process of resolving the conflict between
Azerbaijan and Armenia.

In your opinion, what will be the outcome of the U.S. Congress
discussions on the so-called "Armenian genocide" resolution?

Adoption of the "Armenian genocide" resolution by the U.S. Congress
will cause a huge blow to U.S. national interests, resulting in a loss
of its allies, especially Turkey. We hope that a basic understanding
of all the possible consequences will prevent the U.S. Congressmen
from passing this document.