ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI,RUSSIAN PUBLIC FIGURES VISIT NAGORNO-KARABAKH
ITAR-TASS
04.07.2009, 07.02
BAKU, July 4 (Itar-Tass) — A one-and-a-half-hour meeting with
Azerbaijan’s President Ilkham Aliyev was the last event of a tour
of Nagorno-Karabakh, Yerevan and Baku by Armenian, Azerbaijani and
Russian public figures.
"There was a fundamental and no easy discussion of all aspects
of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia," Russia’s special
presidential representative, Mikhail Shvydkoi, told Itar-Tass over
the telephone.
The meeting was arranged on Friday evening at the initiative of
Azerbaijani and Armenian ambassadors in Russia, Polad Bul-bul Ogly
and Armen Smbatian. Before the visit to Baku the intellectuals from
both countries visited Nagorno-Karabakh and also Yerevan and were
received by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.
"The presidents of both countries appreciated our tour. It looks like
it raised some hopes," Shvydkoi said. "We agreed that by time of the
presidents’ meeting, due on July 17 in Moscow we – the ambassadors of
Azerbaijan and Armenia in Russia Polad Bul-bul Ogly and Armen Smbatian
and yours truly – will draft proposals for humanitarian cooperation
between the two countries. These proposals will contribute to the
negotiating process between Armenia and Azerbaijan."
"One should say that just as the president of the Republic of Armenia,
Serzh Sargsyan, the president of Azerbaijan accepts the negotiating
process. He is aware that it is the last chance not to be missed by
any means and that it will allow for finding an early settlement
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict on the basis of the Meindorf
declaration on Nagorno-Karabakh, signed at the Russian presidential
residence near Moscow on November 2, 2008.
"Both presidents said that the 15-year-long neither-war-nor-peace
situation considerably harmed relations between the two states,"
Shvydkoi went on to say. After the losses both countries have sustained
over these fifteen years "it is very hard to eliminate the shortfalls
that there have emerged in the negotiating process."
"It is absolutely clear that the second meeting of culture workers
and public figures from Armenia and Azerbaijan and Russia expanded
the agenda’ s format. Also it cleared up the public opinion in the
two countries and in Nagorno-Karabakh."
As Azerbaijan’s news agency Azertadj has said, Ilkham Aliyev explained
his country’s position on the issue of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. He said the problem could be resolved exclusively within
the framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the
inviolability of its borders and a high degree of autonomy granted
to Nagorno-Karabakh.
It was a second meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian intellectuals
with the heads of state. The first such meeting was in June 2007. This
time members of both countries’ parliaments took part.
Azerbaijan’s ambassador in Russia, Polad Bul-bul Ogly, said President
Aliyev had held a very interesting meeting with the Azerbaijani and
Armenian delegations and explained his vision of a future settlement
of the Karabakh conflict.
"There was a very informal and informative exchange of opinion. The
most important thing, though, is the president supported that
format and approved it. He said there was a need for more contacts
at the level of civil society and citizen’s diplomacy with the aim
to establish mutual understanding and diversified contacts," he told
Itar-Tass from Baku over the telephone.
The Armenian ambassador in Russia, Armen Smbatian, too, said the
meeting with Ilkham Aliyev was of great interest.
Interviewed by Itar-Tass over the telephone, he said "The meeting with
the president of Azerbaijan was a remarkable one. We were able to hear
the positions of the president of Armenia, of Nagorno-Karabakh and of
Azerbaijan. We shall dedicate ourselves to the negotiating process. We
are the people who prepare the basis for negotiations. Without such
a basis achieving any results will be impossible."
"This is a very complicated process, but we’ve got to give thought to
it. Before that, though, we invite authoritative members of society,
personalities who have influence on their entourage. I believe that we
shall succeed in achieving positive results," the Armenian ambassador
in Russia said.
"For this reason our one-day meeting in the format
Karabakh-Armenia-Azerbaijan will yield a favorable result. The
message we would like to drive home is we are neighboring countries,
neighboring peoples, we must take care of the future and of the
future generations."
"It is very important that after so many years of mutual animosity
direct people-to-people contacts have begun at last. There have begun
certain processes that bring people closer together," the Azerbaijani
ambassador in Russia, Polad Bul-bul Ogly said for his part. "We have
said more than once that points agreement must be looked for and
found. For instance, the victory in World War II. Its 65th anniversary
will be celebrated next year."
At the meeting in Stepanakert, the main city of the Nagorno-Karabkh
enclave, the Azerbaijani and Armenian intellectuals discussed
humanitarian cooperation between their peoples, and joint projects
that could be implemented for the sake of starting contacts between
the two countries after the fifteen years of "no war and no peace."
The first such meeting, called at the initiative of the Azerbaijani
and Armenian ambassadors in Russia, took more than two years ago,
Shvydkoi recalled.
"It was clear already then that without contacts between
representatives of civil society no settlement initiative had any
chances to succeed. What distinguished this meeting from the previous
one was that taking part in it were not only intellectuals, but also
legislators, political figures and Russian representatives."
"Naturally, meetings of civil society representatives cannot
substitute for the negotiations by the presidents of Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Russia," Shvydkoi said. "All participants are aware that
it is the Moscow declaration, just as the forthcoming meeting of the
two presidents in Moscow in July will determine the further steps
towards a political and military settlement. It is likewise clear
that without contacts by civil society representatives, without the
awareness of the need for abiding by the rules of neighborly relations
it will be very hard to translate into reality any agreements achieved
at the summit level."
"We remember that we are neighbors," Smbatian said. "We can like or
dislike each other, we may respect each other or not, but we are
obliged to take into account each other’s interests and look into
the future."
"We believe that such meetings are worth holding as confidence-building
events that foster trust and mutual understanding between people,"
Polad Bul-bul Ogly said. "There were interesting meetings
and very interesting debates. We visited beautiful places in
Nagorno-Karabakh. And there are many initiatives we shall try to
act on."
The participants in the forum had met with the president of the
self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Saakian and then
flew over to Yerevan for a discussion with Armenia’s President Serzh
Sargsyan.