news.az, Azerbaijan
Jan 7 2010
Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship not to promote Karabakh settlement
Thu 07 January 2010 | 10:40 GMT Text size:
Araz Alizade News.Az interviews Araz Alizade, co-chair of the
Social-Democratic Party of Azerbaijan.
As is known, this year Kazakhstan has become chairman in the OSCE. Is
progress in the Karabakh settlement possible during Kazakhstan’s
chairmanship?
OSCE will be able to settle the Nagorno Karabakh problem if a country
chairing there is ready to fight in Azerbaijan’s place. The settlement
of the Karabakh conflict is possible when Azerbaijani decides to
return its lands by way of war.
Can Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev play an active role in
the Karabakh conflict settlement like he did once in the early 90’s
when he visited this region with the then Russian President Boris
Yeltsin?
Nazarbayev is a very wise and cautious politician. And unless stronger
states want to assist Azerbaijan in this issue, Nazarbayev will not do
anything. I would like to remind that within the framework of the
peacekeeping mission Nazarbayev along with the then Russian President
Yeltsin visited Baku, Ganja, Khankendi and Yerevan. At that time,
there were negotiations in Zheleznovodsk and I attended those
negotiations. We were presented a document that was almost an act on
capitulation. The then president of Azerbaijan Mutalibov was in a hard
state: to reject this document at once would mean to obtain the second
enemy in the face of Nazarbayev. Then I suggested to Mutalibov to
accept the document and offer them to persuade the representatives of
opposition and the Azerbaijani delegation including me from the
Social-Democratic Party and Tamerlan Garayev from the Popular Front
that this document is useful. Mutalibov followed this advise saying:
`I am ready to sign any document but we have a strong opposition, try
to persuade it too’. Yeltsin who was expected by a delegation headed
by Italian Prime Minister Julio Andreotti was in bewilderment. Then I
suggested Yeltsin going to Moscow and then returning to continue the
negotiations. Yeltsin thought for a minute and then said: `Oh, to hell
with Andreotti!’. And he stayed to continue the negotiations which
lasted until 1:00 at night. We have changed the document in our favor.
In the beginning of the negotiations representatives of the Nagorno
Karabakh separatist regime sat on the side of the Armenian delegation
while later they sat on our side of the table. Nazarbayev was acting
cautiously not interfering with anything. But in fact he has always
supported us.
By the way, Nazarbayev also spoke for the settlement of this conflict
within the framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Do
you think this position will change in period of Kazakhstan’s
chairmanship in the OSCE?
I would like to repeat that Nazarbayev will follow a decision that
will be made by the superpowers. As for my personal opinion, I think
there is no alternative to war. This unhappy bandit Sargsyan can be
understood. In the years of war he was one of the field commanders and
terrorists. In fact, his place is in the prisoner’s box as a citizen
of Azerbaijan who must be sentenced to life-long imprisonment under
our laws. Imagine him as an Armenian president saying: `We should
return Karabakh to Azerbaijan peacefully’. He will be cut into
thousands of small Serzh Sargsyan’s for these words.
The OSCE member-states have supported Nazarbayev’s initiative about
holding the summit of this organization in Astana. Can this high level
meeting promote progress in the Karabakh settlement?
There will be no progress unless everyone, including Armenia, feels
that Azerbaijan may settle the issue by way of war. OSCE is just a
consultative body while the issue of Karabakh will be settled within a
very small circle. The paradox is that the United States, Russia and
France where Armenian lobby is very strong are co-chairing the OSCE
Minsk Group. Thus, sink or swim!
Leyla Tagiyeva
News.Az