AZERBAIJAN’S BLACKMAIL IS "IN THEORY," POLITICAL ANALYST SAYS
news.am
March 24 2010
Armenia
"I think that this is a quite clear way of defending its interests
for Azerbaijan, as that country is ready to do anything to thwart the
ratification of the Armenian-Turkish protocols," the political analyst
Stepan Grigoryan told NEWS.am, commenting on Azerbaijan’s suspending
its talks with Turkey and demanding that the Armenian-Turkish
reconciliation be linked to the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.
"This is one of the steps by Azerbaijan. After all, agreeing
or refusing to be involved in the Nabucco project, means not only
pressure on Turkey, but, fist of all, on the positions of the United
States and European Union – they that are interested in a success in
the Armenian-Turkish normalization process. That is this pressure is
being exerted in two directions – the West and the East – because
the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation does not promise anything good
to Azerbaijan," Grigosyan said.
As to the probability of Azerbaijan’s pressure achieving its
aim, he said: "Since the implementation of the Nabucco project is
still problematic, Azerbaijan’s pressure is not in practice, but in
‘theory’. What is more, Turkey does not exert any serious efforts nor
does it state its readiness to participate in the Nabucco project,
and I am not sure that Azerbaijan’s blackmail will be effective. Even
if the Nabucco project is realized, the pipeline can be constructed
along a roundabout route, one that would bypass Azerbaijan – say a
route from Central Asia through Iran. Sao I do not think that this
instrument at Azerbaijan’s disposal will be so effective."
The Azerbaijani political analyst Elgar Mamedov stated on March 23:
"If we clearly see Armenian-Turkish reconciliation without any progress
in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, Baku will not think for too
long. The authorities may not plainly state this, but they may give
up the Nabucco projects, as well as a number of other projects having
to do with European energy security."