GERMANY HAS ‘ROLE TO PLAY’ ON KARABAKH
news.az
Aug 22, 2011
Azerbaijan
News.Az interviews Udo Steinbach, honoured professor of Hamburg
university.
Mr Steinbach, you’ve been to Azerbaijan several times. How do you
see Azerbaijan’s place in the European family?
We cannot talk of integration or a perspective of integration for
Azerbaijan into the EU. Given the many problems the EU has, there is
no sympathy right now for integrating other states. You already know
the problems which the Turks have and I think there is nobody talking
in the EU about integrating in terms of membership any Caucasian state
into the EU. But this is not the end of the story, of course. We are
not talking about integration but we are talking about rapprochement
and I think this is something which is happening very rapidly.
Azerbaijan is approaching the EU and it’s a very rapid process. There
is an awareness in Europe that Azerbaijan is an essential country,
both in terms of stability in the Caucasus and in terms of European
interests when it comes to the energy question, so I think we should
not talk about integration – that is something very sensitive right
now in Europe but we talk about rapprochement and getting closer to
each other and this is a very constructive and positive process that
is going on.
Are you sure that European standards could be fully implemented in
Azerbaijan which is a Muslim country. Are there any restrictions
or contradictions?
I don’t think that we are talking about the Islamic character. This
is nothing which the EU is really seriously taking into consideration.
After all, Bosnia is a Muslim country and Turkey is a Muslim country of
course and still there is the perspective of integrating Muslim Turkey
into the EU, not today, not tomorrow but probably in the foreseeable
future. So this is not the point. We are not talking about religion,
but we are talking, and this is much more important than religion,
about the Copenhagen criteria. And from this point of view, of course,
Azerbaijan is distant from fulfilling those criteria in terms of
democracy, in terms of party politics. You know that when we talk
about Azerbaijan we talk a lot in Europe about lack of democracy,
the election being not fair; to some extent people are talking about
corruption. If we are talking about Azerbaijan and relations with
Europe we should not at all be talking about religion. This is not
really the point. Azerbaijanis are a very, very tolerant people and
this is well-known in Europe. When we are talking about Azerbaijan
and about Azerbaijan’s relations with the EU we are talking much more
about political, societal and economic points.
Do you think that there is a greater place for Germany in the
South Caucasus and in Azerbaijan. What do you think about bilateral
relations?
Yes, I think that there is a lot to do. Relations have developed
very rapidly over the last three to four years. Azerbaijan has a very
active embassy in Berlin. Really, it’s absolutely amazing what they
are achieving in terms of political conferences, in terms of cultural
rapprochement. There are a lot of things going on in the cultural
field, organized by Azerbaijani organizations or by the Azerbaijani
embassy. So there is a very strong ambition on the side of Azerbaijan.
On the German side, I think we could do more, we should be more aware
about Azerbaijan and the place of Azerbaijan in terms of political
stability in the Caucasus, in terms of economy and definitely there
could be much more done in the cultural field. When it comes to
Nagorno-Karabakh, the Germans have a role to play but, unfortunately,
Germany and the German parliament and government especially do not
yet perceive the role which Germany should play in bringing about a
solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. This is slowly developing
but it’s not yet for the time being sufficient.
Azerbaijan is trying to attract the world’s attention to the Karabakh
conflict, talking a great deal about war victims, occupied land and
so on. Do you think that the world already knows a lot about this
problem and what do you think would happen if Azerbaijan tried to
liberate its occupied lands by force if negotiations fail?
I think that there is apprehension in Germany and in Berlin about
retaking Nagorno-Karabakh by force. The politicians really insist that
this problem is going to be solved politically. If there is a military
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, this would really add to instability
in the Southern Caucasus and the entire region of the Near East.
People are very sceptical whether anything might be achieved by
military means. And we should do everything we can to contribute to
a political solution and this is a widespread opinion here in Berlin.
Unfortunately, as I said, the political class in Germany, in parliament
and in the government, is not yet fully aware about the impact the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has on stability, on the bilateral economic
relationship and so on and so forth. What we are doing right now,
I myself and many other people, we are trying to increase awareness
about Nagorno-Karabakh here in Berlin in order to make the German
government more ready and more open to contribute from a German point
of view to a political solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.