A DIPLOMATIC DEAL ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH IS THE WISEST PATH TO TAKE
By Elmar Mammadyarov
European Voice, Belgium
ted/a-diplomatic-deal-on-nagorno-karabakh-is-the-w isest-path-to-take/60585.aspx
April 30 2008
A diplomatic accord with Armenia would benefit the region and Europe,
writes Azerbaijan’s foreign minister.
With oil at more than $115 a barrel, and the global market on
tenterhooks, there is virtual inaction by the major consumer countries
of the West to resolve a simmering conflict less than 20 km from the
world’s second-longest oil pipeline.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline bringing Caspian oil to the
Mediterranean and western markets through Azerbaijan, Georgia,
and Turkey skirts the conflict zone of Nagorno-Karabakh – the
internationally-recognized Azerbaijani territory currently under
Armenian occupation. World energy security, as well as the stability
and economic prosperity of the Caspian region, now demands that the
long-running dispute over Karabakh, part of Europe’s new neighbourhood,
is settled.
My country is not only resource-rich; we have systematically
attempted to embed ourselves in multilateral structures and
negotiations. Azerbaijan is determined to see its territorial integrity
restored in the near future. Over two decades, almost a million of
our people have been displaced by a foreign occupying force.
A resolution will not just benefit us. Armenia too will see its
international isolation ended. Its borders with Azerbaijan will
be opened, with all the prosperity that will follow lucrative
east-west trade and transport. Regional powers – Iran and Turkey –
will benefit from decreased instability in their neighbourhood, and
Europe will gain stable partners in the region, with one less haven
for trans-national threats.
As for Russia, its interests in the region for once converge very well
with those of the EU. As one of the biggest foreign direct investors
in our countries, Russian businesses will benefit from stability,
transparency, and predictability in the South Caucasus.
Despite phenomenal economic progress in Azerbaijan, our full potential
– and thus the full potential of the Caspian region – cannot be
realised while the conflict remains unresolved. The occupied areas
are also havens for illegal transnational activity, money laundering
and drug and arms trafficking, which directly affects the citizens
of European countries as well as the states in the region.
On 15 April, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed
clear support for Azerbaijan’s full sovereignty and called for more
political will to achieve resolution. The NATO alliance at its summit
in Bucharest earlier this month agreed that peace in Karabakh must
be realized quickly and within the borders of Azerbaijan. In March,
the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution reaffirming
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and explicitly calling for the
withdrawal of all Armenian forces.
This widespread support is partly based on the nature of the Armenian
occupation. Today’s uncertain status quo rests on a foundation
of ethnic cleansing comparable to that which occurred in Bosnia or
Kosovo. Azerbaijan and the international community cannot tolerate the
continued, systematic eradication of Azerbaijani culture and Muslim
tradition in the occupied areas. Staring down Armenian forces over a
shaky ceasefire line inside our internationally recognized territory
is no longer a workable reality. They must leave and the displaced
people return.
Azerbaijan proposes a final offer to Armenia. We support full autonomy
for Karabakh within Azerbaijan. Our priority is diplomacy, but we
keep all options on the table when it comes to restoring the full
sovereignty of Azerbaijan.
Elmar Mammadyarov is Azerbaijan’s minister of foreign affairs