BAKU: Azerbaijan Has Many Opportunities To Force Armenia To Peace

AZERBAIJAN HAS MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO FORCE ARMENIA TO PEACE
Leyla Tagiyeva News.Az

news.az
May 6 2010
Azerbaijan

Mubariz Gurbanly News.Az interviews Mubariz Gurbanly, deputy executive
secretary of the New Azerbaijan ruling party and Azerbaijan parliament
deputy.

Can Azerbaijan start hostilities to liberate occupied lands with the
arguments it has?

Currently the norms of international law justify war in the only case
when the state and people can start war for self-defense to resist
aggression. In this connection, Azerbaijan, under the norms and
principles of international law, as well as the UN charter preserves
the right to liberate its lands by way of war. President and supreme
commander of the armed forces of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at the
recent session in the Defense Ministry of the country speaking about
the difficulties facing our country including Karabakh conflict has
informed the public and international organizations on his position
on this problem. He said in open that our army is capable to liberate
the occupied lands by way of war. In this case, there is a need to
stress the nuance that at the same session President Ilham Aliyv said
he supports the peaceful solution to the conflict.

Can Azerbaijan initiate war in the current realities in the region?

If today Azerbaijan and Armenia face one-on-one, naturally, considering
Azerbaijan’s military superiority, economic development, as well
as human resources, we can liberate the occupied lands in a short
time. We leave Armenia behind by all parameters and indicators.

On the other hand, considering the fact that the Caucasus region
is under attention of superpowers, we should not forget that our
region has turned into the field of battle. Therefore, in such a
situation, in particular, in case of the second Karabakh war, no one
can guarantee that the foreign powers will stay neutral. In other
word, we have already witnessed such cases in real. In particular,
we should recall the results of Georgia’s steps taken to ensure the
territorial integrity. Georgia launched war to ensure its territorial
integrity but in the result it failed to return the lost lands and
was also involved into the process of the legal seizure of those
lands. If at the preliminary stage of that war, western countries,
including the United States, voiced their resentment over this, later
they kept silent about it. Therefore, it can be predicted that Armenia,
in case of hostilities, will be supported by any states. I would say
in open that our foreign policy and diplomacy is constantly keeping
this issue under close attention.

Do you think the return of Azerbaijani lands is real?

War initiated by any part does not include only hostilities. War also
covers economic, political and ideological spheres. Azerbaijan has
enough opportunities to force the enemy to peace economically. That
is, by raising our economic opportunities, we should force Armenia
to settle the conflict based on norms of international law.

How did the process of normalization of the Turkish-Armenian relations
influence the region?

In the result of the successful diplomacy conducted by Azerbaijan, the
efforts of some states to attain the opening of the Turkish-Armenian
border have remained fruitless. This fact demonstrates that we,
along with diplomacy, can attain success in other spheres. In this
connection, I think Azerbaijan must continue the negotiation process
and treat the processes with patience. Today, we must be waiting
patiently for the result of the political, economic and diplomatic
superiority over Armenia. Naturally, one of the important factors
of this is continued development of the army, its preparation for
liberation of the occupied lands. Baku’s patient participation in the
negotiation may provide him with founded arguments in the selection
of the forced solution of the conflict. That is, if the negotiation
process is ineffective, Baku will have an opportunity to substantiate
the inevitability of the forced solution to the problem for the
international community. It is obvious that definite steps are taken
in this direction. In such conditions, this implies the provision of
arguments for those countries which will probably start supporting
Armenia during hostilities. That is, before launching hostilities we
must be confident that some countries will not assist Armenia. Only
in this case, we will be able to launch hostilities based on the UN,
OSCE and CE documents.

How do you assess the level of propaganda in the sphere of patriotic
upbringing of young generation in Azerbaijan?

Azerbaijan is in a great need of holding large scaled works in the
sphere of military patriotism. The number of programs on military
patriotism, military construction and officers’ life has recently
increased on Azerbaijani TV channels. But I think this is not enough
in the current situation. It is necessary to intensify work in this
direction. On the other hand, it is necessary that a greater part of
the country’s mass media is not regulated by the state, therefore,
the attention of free media to this issue can be attracted by means
of not laws but the increased feeling of patriotism.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS