BAKU MARKS SUCCESS IN KARABAKH ISSUE
Azg/am
30 Oct 04
OSCE Minsk Group Does Not Welcome Azerbaijan’s Initiative
Azerbaijan constantly attempts to divert international community’s
attention from the key issue of Nagorno Karabakh conflict – the status
of Karabakh.
General Commission of the October 27 UN General Assembly gave down an
order of including the issue of “Azerbaijan’s conquered territories’
present status” in the agenda. Out of 28 countries 9 voted for the
offer, 14 abstained and none was against it. Turkey, Ukraine, Iran,
Pakistan, Malaysia were among those voting for the issue to be included
in the agenda.
A letter sent by Azerbaijan’s permanent representative in UN telling
that the OSCE Minsk group didn’t manage to achieve any result,
lay as a reason for discussing the issue of “Azerbaijan’s conquered
territories’ present status”. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s ambassador
to UN informed that Azeri territories alongside Karabakh are being
illegally inhabited, thus artificially shifting the demography.
Hamlet Gasparian, press secretary of Foreign Ministry of Armenia, said
before the Azeris’ initiative got approved that Azerbaijan always had
groundless accusations about inhabiting. “Armenian side always refuted
suchlike accusations and invited international observers to come and
see. Azerbaijan itself used to turn our offer down. We declare for
one more time that Armenia has no state policy of inhabiting these
territories”, he said.
Gasparian also noted that “there are only few refugees from Shahumian
and Getashen”. “We repeat that secondary issues derived from the
Nagorno Karabakh status that bother Azerbaijan the most, must be
discussed with Nagorno Karabakh authorities directly. From this
perspective, we think that Azerbaijan’s last initiative at the UN
has nothing to do with Armenia”, he said.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry’s press release of October 28 after
it became clear that Azeris marked a success at the UN reads: “The
General Commission of the UN General Assembly ordered to include
the issue of “Azerbaijan’s conquered territories’ present status”
in the agenda of the 59th sitting. We view Azerbaijan’s step as the
next attempt to distract international community’s attention from
the issue of Nagorno Karabakh’s status, the key issue of the conflict”.
The Ministry quoted France’s representative who spoke on behalf of
the OSCE Minsk group and said that the General Assembly’s sitting is
not the appropriate forum for discussing the issue.
The French diplomat stated on behalf of Russia and the USA that the
issue’s discussion at the sitting may hinder the efforts for finding
a peaceful and permanent solution for Karabakh conflict.
Armen Martirosian, Armenian ambassador to the UN, reminded in his
speech that the former Autonomous Region of Nagorno Karabakh always
was and is inhabited by Armenians. Martirosian noted that Armenia
conquered Karabakh’s contiguous Azeri territories in a war imposed
by Azerbaijan. He also said that Armenia implements no policy of
inhabiting any territory but Karabakh.
Regardless official Yerevan’s explanation, it’s a fact that
Azerbaijan succeeds in presenting to international organizations
aspects in Nagorno Karabakh issue of secondary importance. The UN
General Assembly’s formulae are not obligatory but are important from
political and propaganda angles.
The UN Security Council accepted 4 formulae concerning Karabakh issue
in 1993, and Ilham Aliyevâ~@~Ys administration spares no effort to
make them come true.
By Tatoul Hakobian
–Boundary_(ID_ojq3U4kKnPTbugAxN+kOnw)–