ANALYSIS: KAZAKHSTAN’S INTEREST IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT SHOULD BE VIEWED WITH CAUTION
Aris Ghazinyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
30.04.10 | 15:54
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Kazakhstan’s leader Nursultan Nazarbayev has recently expressed a
revived interest in the settlement of the Karabakh issue.
In Soviet times Nazarbayev, together with his counterpart, leader of
Russia Boris Yeltsin, made some efforts in that direction. In 1991
in the Russian city of Zheleznovodsk, on the initiative of the two
presidents, negotiations were held with participation of delegations
from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh, and, as a result,
a joint communique was signed. Yeltsin’s and Nazarbayev’s mediating
initiative did not help to improve the situation in Nagorno Karabakh.
The Soviet Union had collapsed, and the key players focused on division
of property.
And now, two decades later, Nazarbayev is again interested in Nagorno
Karabakh.
Currently the chairman of OSCE is Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan
Kanat Saudabayev, who has recently made calls to foreign ministries of
Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss the possibilities of Nazarbayev’s
participation in the negotiation process as president-co-chair of
Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe.
As reported by Novosti Armenia news.am newspaper, Armenia might agree
to Kazakhstan’s suggestion, "however, Yerevan will agree to a meeting
with Nazarbayev’s mediation only if NKR president Bako Sahakyan is
allowed to be present as a full-rights participant."
The following factors are worth mentioning in this connection:
Last year in October the Ninth Summit of the leaders of Turkic states
was held in Nachijevan with participation of top brass representatives
of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Turkic-language-speaking countries of
Central Asia.
Nazarbayev stated at the summit: "In order to achieve Ataturk’s
dream-unity of the Turkic brother-states, we have to improve
cooperation on a political level and raise it to a height which
would meet modern demands. That is why I, on behalf of Kazakhstan,
am submitting a proposal on creating a Council of Turkic States which
would possess all qualities of a regional political unity, a legal
status and certain organizational structures, or, in other words,
a Turkic Council".
But the concept of "Turkic ideology" has long been viewed as
politically-motivated, and racist. The Genocide of Armenians was
a consequence of Pan-Turkic ideology aimed at unification of all
Turkic nations. Armenians, as a Christian nation, were standing in
their way of unification.
Nazarbayev cites Mustafa Ataturk who in late 1920 became the
inspiration for Turkish war against Armenians and their massacre. "To
start a ‘favorable war’ (under a convenient pretext) in order to
unite Azerbaijan with Turkey," Ataturk wrote back then. .
Nazarbayev’s proposal was accepted. Today the Turkic Council is already
functioning. All things considered, Nazarbayev’s renewed interest in
Karabakh is an alerting development.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
