Is Matthew Bryza's opinion the same as that of US State Department's?

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azeri diplomat emphasized that "Washington has always recognized the independence and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan". However, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Matthew Bryza (USA) refused to comment on the issue of the US recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. "Discussions are held over the question whether the principle of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is of more importance than the issue of nation's right on self-determination. There is no universal formula for this issue accepted on the international level," he announced. Yet there is one very essential detail to be mentioned in this regard. Araz Azimov himself is the very person who decides who, what and when will say anything in Azerbaijan. In fact, he is not only the Azeri Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, but also the face of the foreign policy of Baku. As for Matthew Bryza, he is the one who gives publicity to the US State Department's opinion though he doesn't even have any diplomatic rang; in other words, he is "the second" Araz Azimov.

"The revelations" of the American diplomat obviously poured like cold water on Baku. No such announcement has ever been made by Washington or other OSCE Minsk Group co-chair country over all these years of the negotiation process. Armenia has already got used to the fact that whoever comes to Baku and whatever the Azeri Media writes, everything comes to the same thing; "territorial integrity of Azerbaijan". But everything is not as easy as it would seem at first sight, said Bryza. Today America needs Azerbaijan a lot, maybe even more than Turkey; there is the issue of the Iran Nuclear program, which Bush Administration can't submit for anything. But on the other hand the USA treats Azerbaijan the way it treats Turkey. "If you don't support us in the Iranian issue, we will solve the Karabakh issue and will grant independence to Karabakh". The same measures are implemented on Turkey, this time regarding the adoption of Resolution 106 on the Armenian Genocide.

Meanwhile the political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan confirms that the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan hasn't been violated; the army of Nagorno-Karabakh liberated its territories. "Europe and the whole world in general don't realize what the situation was after the USSR breakdown. The Armenian diplomacy doesn't work hard in this matter. We must continuously explain the whole world where the borders of the modern Azerbaijan lie," he mentioned.

The American or the European diplomats will hardly be ignorant of the history of the modern Azerbaijan. The question is for what purpose they use their awareness. In the opinion of Armen Rustamyan sometimes political and economic interests prevail in the Karabakh issue and the remarks of this or that organization are initiated by these very interests. "And then, of course, the contradictory statements make the situation more complicated. If the world community wants to take up the responsibility of conflict solving, which as is admitted by everyone should be done in a peaceful way, it should first of all take into consideration Baku's announcements about the possibility of force implementation in the issue," he said.