TBILISI: Baku’s Problems Over Karabakh

BAKU’S PROBLEMS OVER KARABAKH

The Messenger
April 13 2010
Georgia

Official Baku stresses that Armenia is ignoring the principles of
regulating the Karabakh conflict suggested by the OSCE Minsk Group,
and the Madrid principles too, but no pressure is being put on it by
the international community. Azeri newspaper Zerkalo comments that
the normalisation of Armenian-Turkish relations means Armenia is
winning rather than losing by taking such steps.

Baku is now taking some controversial steps, such as flirting with
Moscow and thus straining its relations with the West, but Baku has not
received from Moscow the kind of support it wanted. Moscow did not take
Baku’s side, and thus betray Yerevan. Baku has tried to apply pressure
on Turkey through its energy transport, but this has not worked either.

Azerbaijan now has a threefold problem. It has received no relief
concerning Karabakh, Baku’s flirtation with Russia has not yielded
positive results and relations with Turkey have become somewhat
controversial. Although Azerbaijan will not change its position on
Karabakh, upholding it continues to cause problems.