Year is new, Aliyev is the same

PanARMENIAN.Net - As always, Azerbaijani president stayed true to himself. Wishing his people a Happy New Year, he once again began to threaten Armenia. We’ll yet revert to Aliyev’s speech, but for now we’ll just note that for an Islamic (secular) country New Year is not a holiday. If Azerbaijan has chosen the path of Islam, the New Year is to be celebrated in March, and if it has chosen the secular path, it is to be celebrated in December. But because Baku has yet been unable to decide which way to go, greetings appear inarticulate. If you should believe Aliyev, all the countries in the world, except for Azerbaijan, are in decline, and their political systems are far behind that of the “democratic” Azerbaijan. That’s true - oil blinds one’s eyes.

Let us cite the Head of sultanate: “Great advances were made in our foreign policy in 2010. The number of our friends and the countries which wish to cooperate with Azerbaijan increased. We are carrying out a successful foreign policy at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels. We already have long-established relationships with international organizations, relationships built on mutual respect, beliefs and interests. The resolution of Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is our main duty and greatest problem. We endeavour to settle this problem by peaceful means and by way of negotiation. Azerbaijan, from its side, is making every effort to achieve the earliest settlement of this problem; to restore the territorial integrity recognized by the international community. Our territorial integrity must be restored. Azerbaijan will never reconcile itself to the current position and will never allow the establishment of a second Armenian state in our eternal land Nagorno-Karabakh. We all know well that the current state of Armenia was established on historical Azerbaijani lands. The Irevan khanate, the Zengezur district and other regions are our historical lands. The Azerbaijani state and people will never allow the establishment of a second Armenian state on Azerbaijani territory. This conflict will only be resolved according to the norms of international law and the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The people who live in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Azerbaijanis, who will return there, will have autonomous status; this can be the only solution to the problem.”

We deliberately give such a long quotation so that it would be clear who in this case acts as an aggressor and invader. The phrase “territorial integrity” is repeated in the president’s speech several times, and only lazy people in our neighboring republic do not speak of the “historical lands of Azerbaijan”. Who are these repetitions for? For Aliyev himself or for his people who have long ceased to listen to the country leaders, being engaged exclusively in the issue of survival in rich and developing Azerbaijan? Perhaps Aliyev needs to be reminded how the remaining representatives of half a million Armenian community in Azerbaijan were killed in Baku on New Year’s Eve. Perhaps Aliyev needs to be reminded because then, in 1990, he was in Moscow and instead of managing state affairs, was engaged in high-rolling father’s inheritance. However, to high-roll this inheritance is still difficult as it is exceptionally large. But this is just in passing. In fact, there is fear in all the speeches of the Azerbaijani president and those of the entire leadership. The thing is that they understand perfectly well that the world has nothing to do with the Karabakh conflict. The world needs oil and gas, and no one cares about how they are acquired. But the military phase of the conflict could jeopardize operation of pipelines, and therefore Aliyev’s viewpoint is yet taken into account. But if he starts talking what the world does not want to hear from him, he will be replaced. For nothing is Baku glad to the arrival of Matthew Bryza. Despite his “kindly feelings for the Azerbaijani people”, Bryza is an American diplomat and his duty is to guarantee the security of pipelines. The same Bryza may just decide and organize a “revolution", since there is already a well-tested option.

Nevertheless, let us hope for the best: Ilham Aliyev comes to reason and stops remodeling the history. He admits that he has lost Karabakh forever, not without his late father’s help. He tries to live with Armenia if not in friendship, at least not at enmity. Fancying this is difficult, but not impossible.