“UNUSUAL” TONE IN A USUAL INTERVIEW, OR WHY ALIYEV BLINKED HELPLESSLY
Wednesday, 03 December 2014 17:08
A few days ago, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev gave an
interview to the Russian news TV channel Russia-24. The interview
covered a wide range of issues relating mainly to the economy of
Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani-Russian relations and the prospects of
their development. In short, a usual interview of the kind based,
so to speak, on “the laws of the genre”.
Surely, the correspondent of the Russian TV channel could not bypass
the Karabakh conflict, and I must say, this time Aliyev, in this
usual interview, surprised to some extent with his “unusual” tone,
because he didn’t, as usual, saber-rattle and threaten with a new
Azerbaijani-Karabakh war.
We have only to guess about the motives of such restraint by the
leader of Azerbaijan. Maybe the reason is the Russian audience,
which, witnessingAliyev’s aggressive militarism, will inevitably bring
parallels with the current Ukrainian leadership, which behaves in a
similar manner towards the residents of Donbass and therefore causes
the dislike by most Russians. Perhaps Aliyev took into account the
fact that he was broadcasting for Russia, which is a co-chairstate of
the OSCE Minsk Group and which consistently advocates an exclusively
peaceful settlement of the conflict. It is also possible that
Aliyev, whose regime is experiencing strong pressure by international
organizations in view of the unprecedented violation of human rights,
thus tries to avoid new problems associated with ignoring the appeals
of the international community to seek a solution to the conflict
exclusively at the negotiation table. It is also possible that the
recent incident with the downing of the Karabakh military helicopter,
which caused a sharp condemnation of Azerbaijan by international
structures, played its role. But, it isn’t excluded that Aliyev’s
desire to appear before the Russian publicas a prudent political
figure was dictated by all the mentioned reasons combined.
But later, when Aliyev, in the usual Azerbaijani interpretation,
“analyzed” the conflict settlement process, the unusual tone, which
surprised us, was completed. It was for the simple reason that the
President of Azerbaijan “traditionally” blamed Armenia for the lack
of success in the negotiation process. It turns out that, according to
Aliyev, Armenia… “does not seek peace, does not seek the resolution
of this issue”. It sounds at least strange, because it is well known
that it is Azerbaijan that threatens with a new war, and the appeals
of the international mediators for the non-use of force of threat of
force in the conflict resolution are addressed to Azerbaijan. Then,
Aliyev began discussing the unacceptability of the current status quo.
In his view, the change in the status quo “means de-occupation
of the Azerbaijani territories, which is the main condition for
the conflict settlement”. Or, is it still the main condition for
newAzerbaijani aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic,
as the fulfillment of Azerbaijan’s requirement will inevitably lead
to the violation of the existing balance of forces? It is clear that
Aliyev would not state it directly at the Russian channel, but the
pan-Turkic policy of official Baku against Armenia and Artsakh leaves
no doubt in the real intentions of Azerbaijan. The threats of Baku,
its arms race, its unwillingness to abandon the idea of a military
revenge and itspersistent violations of the ceasefire pose the major
threat not only to NagornoKarabakh, but also to the entire region,
and the elimination of this danger is precisely the main condition
for the conflict settlement.
The following pearls of Aliyev’s analytical mind are simply amazing.
It turned out that the distinctive feature of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh
conflict is that its solution is based on … the UN Security Council
resolutions. “And not one, but four, requiring the immediate and
unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied
territories”, the Azerbaijani President exclaims pathetically,
but with bitter resentment in his voice. Moreover, Aliyev, in
spite of the proposals by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen, makes a
counter-proposal, advising to base the conflict settlement on these
resolutions. “Because there is simply no other option”, the Azerbaijani
leader sums up flatly, in a tone admitting no objection.
Apparently, Aliyev counts on the ignorance of the Russian audience.
Well, we’ll have to remind him that the four UN Security Council
resolutions required the immediate cessation of hostilities,
but Azerbaijan, resorting to the military force, violated this
requirement. We’ll remind him of something else. During this summer
meeting of the Presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in Sochi,
Aliyev again tried to saddle his favorite horse, appealing to the noted
resolutions. However, when Serzh Sargsyan asked directly whether he
could point out the resolution containing a direct requirement for
Armenia to withdraw its troops and how Azerbaijan carried them out,
Aliyev could not answer and he just blinked helplessly.
Aliyev completed the Karabakh section of his interview with the
accusation of international institutions, in particular, the UN and the
OSCE, which, as he said, fail in their duties and do not justify the
hopes pinned on them. And he urged them not to violate international
law. That is the international law, which he constantly violates.
Leonid MARTIROSSIAN
Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper
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