TURKISH-ARMENIAN RAPPROCHEMENT AND KARABAKH ‘LINKED’

news.az
April 22 2010
Azerbaijan

Eduard Lintner News.Az interviews Eduard Lintner, Bundestag state
secretary and chairman of the German-Azerbaijani Association.

The Karabakh conflict settlement seems to have stalled, judging from
statements by the Azerbaijani leadership. Do you think the conflict
can be settled without the involvement of the international community?

I think the international community is acting too slowly in the
process of the Karabakh conflict settlement. Certainly, the superpowers
represented in the Minsk Group could play an important role in this
process as the co-chairing states. Therefore, I understand the position
of the Azerbaijani leadership.

Why do you think the leading states are trying to normalize relations
between Turkey and Armenia and to get the border between the two
countries opened, forgetting that this border was closed because of
the occupation of Azerbaijani land by Armenia?

I think the links between the normalization of relations between
Turkey and Armenia and the opening of borders and the problem of the
Karabakh conflict settlement must be preserved. I do not think it
correct to open borders and then hope that it will influence Karabakh.

I am convinced that these two processes are linked and they will help
settle the most urgent problem of the region – Nagorno Karabakh.

France is thought to be quite passive as a mediator on Karabakh
and does not fully represent EU interests in stability in the South
Caucasus. What do you think of the proposal to replace France with
another European representative, for example, Germany?

I do not think that this would be right. Germany is a representative
of the same EU as France. On the other hand, we should work not only
with France but also with other representatives of the Minsk Group
and the whole European community so that they can exert more influence
for a resolution of the conflict.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev recently accused some foreign
representatives, who are not familiar with the realities of the
South Caucasus, of biased statements on the Karabakh conflict. Do you
share the opinion that the world and Europe lack information about
the Karabakh conflict?

I think most representatives of the international community have had
to face this problem and, certainly, they are quite familiar with it.

But probably, there are people who do not know this problem well. And
I understand your president who urges the countries to abstain from
a one-sided interpretation of the problem and to consider it in all
aspects, from the position of the norms and principles of international
law, the main one of which is the principle of territorial integrity.