WAR THREATS LOOM OVER ‘PEACE’ TALKS
By Ara Khachatourian
Asbarez
Nov 23rd, 2009
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev
The OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairmen issued a statement Sunday after the
meeting between Armenian and Azeri presidents on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. The representatives of France, Russia and the US expressed
optimism on the progress of the peace talks, but failed to condemn
Azerbaijan and its president, Ilham Aliyev, for inciting violence
by threatening military action against Armenia and Karabakh one day
before sitting down with his Armenian counterpart.
"That meeting must play a decisive role in the process of
negotiations," Aliyev said late on Friday, in comments broadcast
by state television on Saturday and in reference to the meeting
in Germany.
"If that meeting ends without result, then our hopes in negotiations
will be exhausted and then we are left with no other option," he said,
saying Azerbaijan had the right to use force to take back the mountain
region. "Azerbaijan is spending billions on buying new weapons,
hardware, strengthening its position on the line of contact," he said.
"We are doing that because we never excluded and we do not exclude
that option. We have the full right to liberate our land by military
means," he added.
The above statements should have been enough to raise red flags for all
parties involved. If the Minsk Group mediators truly were committed to
the peace process they should have not only canceled the meeting, but
issued a terse warning to Azerbaijan, which has used military rhetoric.
On the other hand, in the absence of a Minsk-Group-initiated
cancellation, Armenia should have pulled out from the meeting in
protest of Aliyev’s remarks, sending a clear signal that it does not
negotiate with parties that threaten the national security of Armenia
and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
However, there was an interesting and bold announcement from President
Serzh Sarkisian’s spokesperson Samvel Farmanyan, who on Monday told
reporters that an official recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic by Armenia was not being ruled out in the event that
Azerbaijan continues its military rhetoric.
The series of events call into question the optimism expressed by
the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen, as well as the validity of the
peace process. One wonders if the parties involved have adopted
another-still elusive-definition of the word "peace" given that the
atmosphere in which the Munich talks were held were tainted from the
onset and before any matter of relevance could be placed on the agenda.
Was Farmanyan’s statement another knee-jerk reaction from Yerevan,
or one that may actually have legs?
Azeri foreign minister, Araz Azimov, on Monday told the press and his
Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, that the talks were encouraging.
All sides are now looking at the OSCE summit in Athens to continue
the process, or the progress, depending on which angle this is
being viewed.
The Armenian side has not commented about the talks, but Farmanyan’s
remarks indicate that Armenia did not see any progress in the talks
after Sunday’s Munich meeting.
In fact, the diplomatic back-and-forth prior to the meeting
demonstrated that neither party is on the same page. On one hand,
Azeris said that the focus was on the timetable by which Armenia
allegedly would "return lands" to Azerbaijan. On the other hand,
Armenia called into question whether they and the Azeris were taking
part in the same peace talks, because the focus, in Armenia’s opinion,
was determining the status of Karabakh.
This, coupled with continued assurances by Turkey that Turkey-Armenia
relations are dependent on the outcome of the Karabakh peace process,
as well as announcements by Karabakh authorities that they have never
been presented with the so-called "Madrid Principles," at best paints
a dubious picture of the ongoing peace process.
In this climate, Armenia must act resolutely and put in motion the
processes that are outlined by Farmanyan in his statement, and before
another round of talks between the "sides" insist on Karabakh’s
complete participation in the peace process. At the same time, the
Armenian Foreign Ministry should also engage in diplomatic talks with
Minsk Group co-chairing countries urging them to condemn Azerbaijan
for its continued military rhetoric and non-peaceful disposition that
it has demonstrated and advocated from the onset of the talks.
Furthermore, until such a condemnation by the Minsk Group co-chairs,
Armenia should refrain from taking part in peace talks.