THE AZERIS ARE BEING MISGUIDED: IT’S NECESSARY TO SHOW THEM THE RIGHT WAY
Yerkir/am
March 17, 2006
“I don’t think Armenia is making militaristic statements. On the
contrary, we are not responding properly to the militaristic rhetoric
and atmosphere that prevails in Azerbaijan today. The Azeri population
is being misguided purposefully.
They are made to think that Armenia is so weak, and our spirit is so
much broken that as soon as Azerbaijan starts military operations it
will immediately succeed in returning the territories they have lost,”
representative of ARF’ s Supreme Body Armen Rustamian stated commenting
on the recent statements made in Armenia after the Armenian president’s
statement. Continuing the rhetoric of Azerbaijan’s militaristic
statements Rustamian reminds our society that by these territories
Azerbaijan means not only the territory around Karabagh and the areas
that are currently under Armenia’s de facto control.
Azerbaijan turns out to have greater ambitions: it is planning
to invade a larger area, including Zangezur and other Armenian
territories.
“This is the atmosphere that prevails in Azerbaijan and we have
to respond to it properly. The statements we make are a means of
preventing war and not instigating it. We have to differentiate between
the statements made by Azerbaijan, statements that are directly calling
for a war. The message we want to send is that we are ready for a war,
so let’s us not be misguided and let’s not start another war,” head of
the National Assembly permanent committee on foreign relations stated.
At the same time he reminded that if today Azerbaijan is speaking
about losing 20% of its territories, there can be no guarantees
that it will not lose 40% of its territories if another war breaks
out. Rustamian believes this should be made clear since this is the
most important tool for countering Azerbaijan’s ambitions. There are
no other preventive measures that could be used against Azerbaijan.
“There are no peacekeeping forces, and by the way, the ceasefire was
signed without the assistance of the international community. The
ceasefire was established only due to the fact that the war was a
self defense of the Karabagh population, and the Azeri aggression
was stopped,” Rustamian said.
Commenting on the progress of the peace talks, Rustamian said he
believes that if the position Azerbaijan has adopted persists, the
prospects for the settlement of the conflict will be very vague. What
measures should be undertaken to ensure that we do not face a deadlock
in the future?
Rustamian believes in order to raise the efficiency of the negotiation
process it is necessary to understand the two important issues around
which mutual concessions must be made. These are the issues of security
and political status.
In addition to this, it is very important to understand that the peace
talks cannot be considered efficient as long as Nagorno Karabagh does
not participate in the negotiation process since there are issues
that are the sole prerogatives of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic.
Nagorno Karabagh Republic is a party of the conflict, and being
such, it must also be a party of the negotiations. Who has more to
do to improve this situation? “I think Azerbaijan has more to do in
this respect. The Minsk Group Co-Chairs should assess the situation
correctly and diagnose properly why the peace talks are not progressing
in an efficient manner. Each of the parties of the conflict should
be assigned with such tasks that would ensure the efficiency of the
negotiation process,” Rustamian stated.
What prospects can there be if the negotiation process faces a
deadlock? A deadlock would mean that the settlement is postponed with
all the unfavorable consequences deriving from such a development. This
will damage the prospects for regional cooperation.
Rustamian believes Armenia has long faced this situation and has been
trying to find a way out. Armenia manages to develop economically even
under the circumstances of a blockade. In the future, Armenia has
to strengthen its internal resources and strengthen the country to
make it clear for Azerbaijan that there can be no military solution
to the conflict. “Azerbaijan must understand that if the conflict
settlement is postponed the international community will recognize
Nagorno Karabagh’s de facto status.
Time will not favor any of the parties. At some period such a delay
could benefit one party, at another period the other party. And
the shifts in this balance will depend on the measures each of the
countries involved will undertake,” Rustamian said.