AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA ON TWO OPPOSITE SITES OF MADRID PRINCIPLES
Armen Hareyan
HULIQ.com
May 13 2010
SC
Azerbaijan and Armenia have in principle agreed to the Madrid
Principles proposed by the mediators as a way to resolve the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict. A simple reverse of the order of the principles
could have helped to settle for peace. However, the two countries
look at the principles from two opposite points of views.
Azerbaijan looks favorable at the Madrid Principles because it
promises the return of the territories adjacent to Nagorno Karabakh
Republic. They also call for the return of the internally displaced
people to their original dwelling locations and a referendum to
determine the final status of Nagorno Karabakh. The date of this
"legally binding expression of will" is not established and it’s pretty
vague how it will be conducted. The details are not specified. This
is why those are called principles.
Armenia, on the other hand, while agreeing to the Madrid Principles
in principle, says the international status of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic (NKR) is the core of the conflict. Thus, we need to start
from it, Armenia says. It calls for more specification on how and
when the referendum will be conducted to determine the future status
of the Nagorno Karabakh. Armenia has said it is willing to discuss
issues that are of mutual interest with Azerbaijan, but only after
the latter is ready to discuss the future status of NKR.
Discomforting Points Over The Principles
Armenia says bringing back the Azeri refugees back to Nargorno Karabakh
and making them to leave side by side with the Armenian majority of
Karabakh before the conflict is resolved is an invitation to another
conflict. This is why Armenia insists to start from the status and
details of the referendum for the future status of NKR.
Azerbaijan, on the other hand, wants to keep the referendum part as
distant and vague as possible. It knows that the referendum will lead
to Nagorno Karabakh’s Independence, as 80 percent of the population
is Armenian.
Thus the two countries have in principle agreed to the Madrid
Principles, set forward by Russia, France and U.S., but look at them
from totally different point of views. This is where the mediators
can come to help by simply reversing the order of those principles.
The core of the conflict is the status of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic, which already for 20 years is de facto independent from
Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan does not want to accept it, but also does not
explain how it can convince Karabakh population to vote to remain in
one country with it.
This conflict did not start because of the refugees or liberated
territories. It started because of the violated human rights of the
Armenian population in Nagorno Karabakh’s Autonomous Region. Thus the
region voted for independence. If the mediators are really interested
in this conflict’s quick resolution they need to get a hold of the
problem and not the symptoms. Otherwise, currently it seems that
everyone is trying to heal the symptoms, leaving the problem at
the end.