Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
Jan 18 2005
New talks for Karabakh
by Mammad Bagirov
Eldar Namazov, former Presidential aide
for Heydar Aliyev is skeptical
about movements to resolve
the Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh
conflict in 2004. His concern
lies with a lack of
basis.. (Sun Photo by Samir Aliyev)
A new stage in settling the conflict in the Nagorno (Daghlig)Karabakh
region of Azerbaijan may begin this year, Ilham Aliyev, the
Azerbaijani president said in his New Year’s address to the nation,
RFE/RL reported.
Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan is ready to resume talks on the issue.
At the same time, he added that there has been no any change in
Azerbaijan’s stance: the conflict must be settled without violating
the territorial integrity of the country.
Conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia around the mainly Armenian
populated Nagorno Karabakh region started in 1988. During the
conflict, Azerbaijan lost control over 20% of its territory,
including the Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh region. A ceasefire was
reached in 1994, but the situation has yet to be resolved on a
permanent basis.
Aliyev said he hopes international mediators such as OSCE’s Minsk
Group will play a more active role in solving the problem.
For his part, Vardan Oskanyan, Armenia’s minister of foreign affairs,
in an interview with Russia’s Interfax news agency said that last
year saw positive movements towards the process of the conflict’s
settlement. He elaborated by saying that last year was remarkable if
not only for the resumption of the dialogue, after a long break,
between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
`It provided some clarity to our plans for the next year, and I think
in 2004, this dialogue will continue,’ Oskanyan said.
The presidents of the two conflicting nations met in Geneva last
December and agreed to continue with the negotiations. It was the
first meeting of Azerbaijan’s new leader Ilham Aliyev with his
Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharyan.
Earlier last month, co-chairmen of OSCE’s Minsk Group paid a visit to
the region and met with the two leaders. Although there had been
hopes that the international mediators would present new ideas for
the settlement of the conflict, no such ideas were offered.
Oskanyan, Armenia’s foreign minister said that during this last visit
of OSCE’s Minsk Group’ co-chairmen, they `didn’t present new
approaches’, although he admitted that there were such `expectations’
in Armenia. `Our expectations were based on the co-chairmen’s
statements made before their visit to the region,’ Oskanyan added.
`They probably considered that it’s not an ideal time for the
advancement of new ideas, especially in Azerbaijan,’ he said.In
regards to the expectations of Armenian leadership for the 2004 year,
Oskanyan said `we hope that all agreements that were reached during
the talks with former Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev won’t be
lost and will serve as a basis for the continuation of negotiations.’
Commenting on Ilham Aliyev’s New Year’s address, Azerbaijani
political scientist Rasim Musabekov told Baku Sun that this could
mean `some efforts’ may be taken to intensify the process of the
settlement this year.
`It’s obvious that after solving all the issues related to the
presidential elections that took place in both countries last year,
both sides will renew the talks on Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh
problem,’ said Musabekov, adding that the main question is how
productive this dialogue would be. The political scientist added that
he isn’t optimistic on the results of future talks.
`I don’t see any grounds to consider that both sides are ready for
compromise,’ he added.
Musabekov went on to say that limit of compromises on Azerbaijan’s
side had been practically exhausted and new compromises would lead to
the loss of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over its territories.
Another local political expert, former president’s aide, Eldar
Namazov, is also skeptical about productivity of negotiations. `What
we (representatives of the Azerbaijani community) have seen to date
isn’t enough to predict that radical changes could take place by the
end of 2004,’ he said in an interview with Baku Sun.
The political expert agrees with Musabekov, stressing that Azerbaijan
has made all possible concessions to Armenia during negotiations.
“Azerbaijan proposed the highest level of of autonomy to Nagorno
(Daghlig) Karabakh region and further compromises would lead to
independence, which isn’t acceptable,’ said Namazov.
Namazov also pointed out that there had been no serious changes in
the stance of Armenia’s leadership, which continues to demand either
independence for Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh region from Azerbaijan or
its annexation to Armenia. Namazov added that there is nothing new in
the activities of OSCE’s Minsk group. `The co-chairmen continue to
say that both sides should reach an agreement on their own, and that
the mediators have no intentions to pressure either side,’ he said.
In regards to statements from Armenian foreign minister about his
nation’s `hopes’ to renew talks on the basis of previous agreements
reached with former Azerbaijan president Heydar Aliyev, Namazov said
that Armenian officials `repeatedly’ claimed that such Agreements had
been reached in Paris (France) and Key West (U.S.).
Meanwhile, Russian news agency Rosbalt reported that Arkadi Gukasyan,
head of the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh Republic, said in his
New Year’s speech that the main tasks for leadership of this
unrecognized territory in 2004 will be to continue the struggle for
independence and international recognition.
`All of our foreign policy activity in the New Year will be aimed on
solving these crucial tasks,’ Gukasyan said.
The former Azerbaijani leader and his Armenian counterpart met in
France and the U.S. in 2001 to discuss prospects of conflict
settlement around Nagorno (Daghlig) Karabakh region. Azerbaijani
officials claimed that during these negotiations no outcomes were
reached while their Armenian counterparts claim that the presidents
agreed on the `principles’ of a settlement.
`There is such a rule in diplomacy – either all or nothing, which
means that when the talks are still ongoing and no mutual consent has
been reached on all issues, in reality, there is no agreement,’
elaborated Namazov. `Suppose that such an agreement exists and
consists of ten items. Even if both sides agreed on nine of these
items, but there is no consent on the tenth it is considered in
diplomacy, that there is still no agreement,’ he added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress