MAMEDYAROV PASSES WISHES FOR REALITY

PanARMENIAN.Net - Mamedyarov's announcement sounded sensational. He talked about the readiness of Armenia to return the seven regions of the security zone and the necessary to fix concrete dates for the withdrawal of Armenian forces from those territories. Mamedyarov's statement was treated with distrust not only in Yerevan, but also in Baku. The Azeri press afforded to suppose that Mamedyarov passes his wishes for reality. At the same time, it is interesting that the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Arman Kirakosyan has blamed Mamedyarov for breaking the confidentiality of the negotiation process. Arman Kirakosyan did not mention whether Mamedyarov's statement was true or not. So, it can be presumed that the question of returning the security zones has really been touched upon in the course of negotiations. The thing is in what context was the question touched upon?

It looks like that Mamedyarov has told just some part of the truth, deliberately changing the accents. Actually, Yerevan has never excluded the possibility of discussing mechanisms and terms of returning the territories under control in case Azerbaijan made some concessions concerning the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh. But talking about concessions, Mamedyarov only mentioned about the agreement to restart communications. Yerevan has repeatedly announced that that formula cannot be acceptable. However, nothing has changed up to now. Thus, Mamedyarov either conceals everything that deals with concessions demanded by Yerevan or his statement was just a canard. The first variant seems more logical.


What does the Azeri foreign minister conceal? The answer to this question can be found in Turkish "Radical" newspaper. In the Tuesday issue of the paper it is said that after the talks with Robert Kocharyan Ilham Aliev met Rejeb Erdogan and informed him about the content of the two-hour talk with the Armenian leader. According to the paper, Aliev informed that the Warsaw talks did not bring any results since no agreement was reached concerning Nagorno Karabakh referendum and the status of Lachin region. This information actually denies the information spread by Mamedyarov. At the same time, the paper also gives grounds to guess what did the minister conceal talking about the compromise of Azerbaijan in case of the return of Armenian controlled territories. From the content of the Turkish publication, it becomes quite clear that during the negotiations Robert Kocharyan has again raised the issue of recognition of the referendum on the future status of Karabakh in exchange for the stage-by-stage withdrawal of Armenian forces from the security zones. This is not a new formula and if Azerbaijan guaranteed the recognition of legal effect of the referendum, the political leadership of Armenian could seriously consider the issue of fixing concrete dates for returning the regions of Lower Karabakh to Azerbaijan. (The recognition of the legitimacy of the referendum would mean recognition of the independence of Nagorno Karabakh Republic, because it is not hard to foretell the results of the referendum)

Thus, it is quite obvious that Elmar Mamedyarov has skipped the most important part, concentrating only on points that are favorable for Azerbaijan. Pro-governmental Azeri press and politicians have immediately started promoting the minister's legend about "the readiness of Yerevan to accept the inevitableness of returning the occupied territories". Milli Majlis deputy Anar Mamedkhanov has even announced that he possesses information about the order of returning the regions around Karabakh. He says that Aghdam and Fisouly are going to be freed first, then Kelbajar and Lachin. For all this Azerbaijan will only make a little compensation - will agree to "ensure the security of Armenian community in Nagorno-Karabakh". And that's all. It is worth mentioning that the author of this statement is a captain of KVN (the merry and the quick-witted club) team. He has always been perfect in making people laugh…