President and Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan play “good & bad”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Another sticking point for Baku is the status of Nagorno Karabakh, which Mammadyarov tries to solve in an imperative way, or rather, by shouting “Nagorno-Karabakh is the land of Azerbaijan and will never receive independence.” The Azeri diplomat, of course, repeats the words of his president (he has no other choice), but on the other hand he understands that independence of Karabakh is not in the hands of Baku and it’s a long-settled fact. “For us, Nagorno Karabakh is part of the Azerbaijani Republic. During this time we shall be able to provide all the necessary arguments to Azerbaijani citizens of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenian nationality, so that they realize that it is much more interesting and important for them to live in flourishing Azerbaijan. I believe that Armenians in Karabakh will opt to remain part of the Azerbaijani Republic. We shall have to work hard towards this, but it’s not yet known when it will be achieved. We need to provide a lot of arguments, facts and benefits to explain that life in Azerbaijan can be better in view of economic development,” said the Minister. One just wonders whether Mammadyarov himself believes his own words, and how come that citizens of the Republic of Artsakh have become citizens of Azerbaijan? In addition, the Azeri FM failed to specify who would take part in the referendum on defining the Karabakh status. “It will be of great importance with what question you go to determination of status. And once again realizing that now it is impossible to decide the wording of this question, we go within the guidelines for a specific mechanism for determining the modalities of how we will proceed. That is, this is not the issue we should begin with.” The answer sounds at least strange... There is only one wording and it was accepted in 1991, when everyone in Karabakh voted in favor of independence. So, all the talk about an interim status and referendum is nothing else but a smokescreen that hides the true face of the Azerbaijani leadership, ready to throw the region into a slaughterhouse, for the mere aim of achieving their goals.

Referring to Madrid principles, which, by the way, were seen by no one but the negotiators, Elmar Mammadyarov kept stressing that Armenian side has not accepted them, while Baku expressed “good will” and agreed. All this does not fit with Aliyev’s proclaimed policy of full militarization and threats to “liberate our lands”. So, either the President and his Minister have not coordinated their words or they have started to play “good & bad”. Perhaps, it is necessary to once again remind the Azeri FM that without participation of Nagorno Karabakh, no work on peace agreement can be started.

As for the Madrid principles, according to Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, 6 out of 14 points were officially declassified in the statements of presidents of the three Minsk Group co-chair states (France, Russia, and the United States) at L'Aquila and Muskoka. They principally suggest the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, provision of interim status to Nagorno-Karabakh, possibility of returning refugees, a safe corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, definition of the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression, as well as provision of international security guarantees including a peacekeeping mission.

By and large, these six principles are rather vague and do not provide absolute security guarantees to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. International safety measures and peacekeepers are not simply able to stop the sabotage and provocation on the front lines. Unfortunately, the experience of similar operations around the world gives no reason to rely on these peacekeepers. It is understandable that these principles, although with reservations, satisfy Baku and Mammadyarov admits this, saying: “Let’s start immediately the work on peace treaty and demonstrate to the entire world our will to work on a legally binding peace agreement, rather than on a political document”. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister even states he is ready to begin the work on a peace agreement “just today”. Though, he then immediately gives the example of the Kuril Islands, on which no agreement has yet been signed between Russia and Japan since 1945. But, at least, neither Russia nor Japan threatens to “go and liberate”.

But whatever the Head of the Foreign Ministry should say, the other day notorious Vafa Guluzade stated the following: “Should the Armenians under the patronage of their owners make an attempt to start a new adventure, Azerbaijan should not hesitate to inflict most powerful missile attacks on Armenia.” This was his response to the statement of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, who said: “If a new war breaks out in Karabakh, Armenian side will prove stronger and will win a victory over Azerbaijan.”

Moreover, Guluzade said missiles should be fired not only on Yerevan, but also on Gyumri, Kapan and other Armenian cities. “We can bring down the full power of the Azerbaijani army on Armenia, so that she is never able to come to her senses. In recent years Azerbaijan has purchased such a great deal of military equipment that many would envy,” Guluzade said, 1news.az reports. Here is the evidence of “NKR security” and “good will”.