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Tag: Nagorno-Karabakh

Karabakh should be returned to Azerbaijan

[ 25 Mar 2009 16:29 ]
Vienna –APA. On 24th March, in Vienna, the Third Armenian Azerbaijani Public Peace Forum was opened with an international Round Table on Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict – Challenges and Opportunities for Building Confidence Between Societies.

Almost 40 Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society leaders, experts, intellectuals gave a start to the events that are going to continue in Vienna until 27th March. The three Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group Ambassador Bernard Fassier, Ambassador Yury Merzlyakov and Matthew Bryza, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office for Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and Mr. Alexandros Katsanis, representative of the current OSCE Chairman-in-Office, took part in the Forum.
During almost 5-hours of open and frank discussion, the international mediators and civil society shared their views on the challenges and possibilities to build confidence between the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis today. This is a very rare opportunity when all international mediators in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process are discussing the different aspects of the conflict together with such a large civil society delegation from all sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict divide. In such sense, this is an event that marks a milestone in the Nagorno-Karabakh peacebuilding process.
After the round table, the mediator of the dialogue, International Alert’s representative for Eurasia region Dessislava Roussanova, said: “The three Co-Chairmen had a united message to the Forum – war is not an option. But the Co-Chairmen were there not just to deliver their messages. They were there to listen, to engage in dialogue, and to discuss very frankly with civil society issues and aspects of the Nagorno-Karabakh peacebuiding process and the possible role that civil society could play in it. The discussion was very constructive, the tone was extremely positive. There was a desire among many that this collaboration between civil society and the mediators should become a regular cooperation.”
Regnum agency reports that Co-Chairs made interesting speeches in the event. French Co-Chair Bernard Fassier noted that the mediators did not solve the problem, but assist the sides in the process and try to achieve international guarantee.
To him, the compromise is a solution of the problem without defeat, not missing the opportunity. Fassier added that attempts on recognition of Nagorno Karabakh as independent state and returning it to Azerbaijan without any terms can cause new war .
The diplomat stated that Madrid proposals were not ideal and stressed that unideal compromise was better than the war.
“The real version is returning of territories, which are under the control of Armenian servicemen, to Azerbaijan and security of the temporary status of Nagorno Karabakh for Baku and Yerevan. Self-determination of peoples problem can be solved after 5-10 or 15 years, when Azerbaijani community will return back to their lands ,” he said.
The US Co-Chair Matthew Bryza underlined that Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents should achieve the peace.
“They should know that the process will not occur basing on Azerbaijan, but international guarantee,” he said. Bryza added that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supported to assist for the solution to the conflict .
Russian Co-Chair Merzlyakov noted that the difficult problem is divergence of opinion between the sides on status quo. The diplomat added that the monitorings are held to strengthen confidence building between the sides at present.
“One of the last monitorings did not take place because of violation of cease fire . Moreover, the sides did not implement demands of MG on withdrawal of snipers from the front. The mediators support negotiations conducted between Azerbaijani and Armenian civil societies. Such kind of meetings will not be held in Yerevan, Baku , but other cities,” he said.

March 25, 2009
U.S. Envoy Again Visits Armenia

By Ruben Meloyan

A senior U.S. official paid on Wednesday a brief and apparently unexpected visit to Yerevan which the Armenian Foreign Ministry said focused on international efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza, who is also Washington’s chief Karabakh negotiator, met with President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian and made no public statements afterwards. Sarkisian’s office also did not immediately report any details of the talks.

According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Bryza passed on to Nalbandian a message from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton relating to U.S.-Armenian relations, regional security and the ongoing dialogue between Armenia and Turkey. A ministry statement said Clinton “warmly recalled” her March 17 phone conversation with Sarkisian that also touched on these subjects.

“In the message, Secretary of State Clinton expressed her readiness to provide utmost support to the process of a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict,” said the statement. “During the meeting Eduard Nalbandian and Matthew Bryza discussed issues pertaining to the Artsakh (Karabakh) negotiating process,” it added without elaborating.

Bryza already visited Yerevan as well as Baku and Stepanakert early this month together with the two other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuri Merzlyakov of Russia and Bernard Fassier of France. The three mediators expressed hope that the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet again soon and make further progress towards the signing of a framework Karabakh peace accord. The meeting could take place on the sidelines of a European Union summit in Prague scheduled for May 7.

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/1600561.html

March 25, 2009
AZERBAIJAN: ARMS SCANDAL STIRS SUSPICIONS OF MOSCOW

Shahin Abbasov 27/01/09

Azerbaijani allegations about the reported transfer of a multi-million-dollar stash of Russian weapons to Armenia should prompt Baku to rethink its relationship with Moscow both in terms of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and energy policy, local analysts say.

On January 8, the independent “Mediaforum.az” portal first published the copy of a document allegedly signed by Lieutenant General Vyacheslav Golovchenko, deputy commander of armaments for Russia’s North Caucasus military district, that listed weapons and army vehicles transferred in 2008 to Armenia’s defense ministry from Russia’s military base in the northern Armenian town of Gyumri.

The 69-item list included 27 T-72 tanks, several armored personnel carriers, various types of missiles and guns, grenade launchers, machineguns, submachine guns, mines, and shells. Anonymous experts cited by Mediaforum.az put the approximate value of the transfer at roughly $800 million.

The document’s source was not indicated.

While both Moscow and Yerevan have denied the transfer, Azerbaijani officials tell EurasiaNet that they have no doubts that the handover took place.

One Azerbaijani government source, who asked not to be named, told EurasiaNet that the signed document was “first . . .obtained by the Azerbaijani security services via their channels in Moscow, and then leaked to Mediaforum.az.”

“We have enough information on the issue,” the source said. He did not, however, specify what further steps Baku plans to take.

In a January 15 statement, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry noted that the “Russian actions cause special concern . . . in the context of strategic partnership relations between Baku and Moscow and Russia’s mediating role in the Karabakh conflict’s resolution.”

Parliamentarians have taken up the cry. Aydin Mirzazade, deputy chairman of the parliamentary commission on defense and security, argues that Azerbaijan should demand that Armenia return the weapons and vehicles to Moscow – or that Moscow withdraw from a role in the negotiations over Nagorno Karabakh, APA news agency reported.

Whether or not the transfer actually took place is not a subject for public debate. The story has reawakened memories of the late Russian Lieutenant General Lev Rokhlin’s 1997 accusation that the Russian defense ministry was transferring weapons to Armenia without the Kremlin’s assent.

Instead, analysts and parliamentarians alike are focusing on how Baku should respond, and reasons for the alleged transfer.

Analyst Ilham Ismayil believes that Azerbaijan should now express clear support for the Nabucco gas pipeline – a project designed to offer an alternative to Russian supply routes to Europe – during the January 26-27 Nabucco summit in Budapest.

“It is abnormal when a country [Russia] which you call a strategic partner transfers arms to your enemy,” Ismayil commented. Azerbaijani observers had earlier expressed concerns that arms withdrawn from Russia’s former bases in Georgia would end up in Armenia – the current scandal is cited as justification for those fears.

Rauf Mirkadirov, political columnist for the Baku-based Zerkalo (Mirror) daily, goes still further. The Kremlin, he believes, hoped to use the arms transfer to trigger a fresh war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh in 2009, and thereby block the Nabucco project. The transfer acted as a de facto response to Azerbaijan’s own military buildup, he said; Azerbaijani military spending now stands at well over $2 billion per year.

“[T]aking into account all of Russia’s recent actions, the possibility of the conflict resuming soon is unfortunately increasing again,” Mirkadirov said.

The South Caucasus’ territorial conflicts are the only lever left for Russia to keep its influence in the region, to oppose Georgia and Azerbaijan’s integration with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and to block energy projects like Nabucco, Mirkadirov added

But while Azerbaijani tempers simmer, Moscow shows little sign of changing its story.

On January 21, the Russian foreign ministry gave the Azerbaijani embassy in Moscow an official note that affirms that the Russian defense ministry did not transfer or sell to Armenia any of the arms described in the Mediaforum.az report. The note described the report as “disinformation, which has a clearly anti-Russian character,” news agencies reported.

In a January 16 statement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that a joint investigation with the Russian General Staff had shown that ” [t]he person whose name is mentioned in the Azerbaijani media did not sign any documents and Russia did not supply arms to Armenia last year. We came to the conclusion that this document is false.”

Lavrov emphasized that, as co-members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Russia has programs of “military-technical cooperation” with both Armenia and Azerbaijan. “Our Azerbaijani friends know it and there were no concerns in the past,” he said.

Editor’s Note: Shahin Abbasov is a freelance correspondent based in Baku. He is also a board member of the Open Society Institute-Azerbaijan.

Eurasianet

March 23, 2009
Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister: Turkey’s position on Karabakh problem will continue as before, nothing has changed

Baku – APA. “The United States and Turkey have common targets on a number of issues, including Caucasus,” Turkey’s Deputy Foreign Minister, former Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan Ahmet Unal Chevikoz, who ended his visit to Washington, said in his interview to Turkish service of the Voice of America, APA reports.

Chevikoz had high-level meetings with the U.S. officials in Washington and discussed President Barack Obama’s forthcoming visit to Ankara.
“Obama’s visit is very important. The relations between the two countries were discussed during the recent visit of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Ankara. We saw that the two countries had very significant foreign policy targets. We have a common agenda on a number of issues, including our relations with Iraq, Afghanistan, Caucasus and Russia,” he said.

Commenting on Turkey’s policy with respect to Armenia Chevikoz said the whole world witnessed everything.

“After September 6 visit of President Abdullah Gul to Yerevan, high-level warm relations were formed between the two countries. Foreign Ministers met seven times. The ways to improve Turkey-Armenia relations were discussed at the meetings. We hope the relations will normalize soon and it will be continuous. There are some preparations in this respect and these preparations will be realized with support of the Foreign Ministers of the two countries,” he said.

Ahmet Unal Chevikoz also commented on Azerbaijan’s attitude towards Ankara-Yerevan relations.

“Being our nearest neighbor in the region Azerbaijan is attentively observing normalization of the relations between Turkey and Armenia. On the other hand, there is unsolved Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is normal that Azerbaijan is observing these processes. But Azerbaijan need not worry or doubt anything. Turkey’s position on Karabakh problem will continue as before, nothing has changed. Of course, normalization of the relations between Turkey and Armenia is parallel to the process of settlement of Nagorno Karabakh problem,” he said.

Turkish diplomat said his country was not mediator, but played an easing role in the settlement of the conflicts in the region.

Ankara has offered opportunities for contacts between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Israel and Palestine and played an easing role in Israel-Syria and Syria-Lebanon dialogues and European Union’s contacts with Iran.
“All this is sourced from everybody’s confidence in Turkey,” he said.

Source: en.apa.az, 16 Mar 2009

March 16, 2009
All problems will be solved as a whole

Istanbul. Mayis Alizadeh-APA. Turkish MP from National Movement Party (MHP), Professor Midhad Melen’s exclusive interview with APA Turkish Bureau

– Are you satisfied with the meetings in Washington? What is Washington’s reaction towards so-called “Armenian genocide”?

– The congressmen were more restrained. Armenian Diaspora also takes proper steps. As a matter of fact, Armenian Diaspora tries to keep Armenia under pressure not to establish relations with Turkey. In spite of Obama’s pre-election promises to Armenians, I could say that the Congress does not approach this question as closer as it was before.

– What is the reason of this?

– 70 members of the Congress have signed a bill on recognition of “Armenian genocide”. I don’t believe that these signatures will be enough. The US new government started a new cooperation stage with Turkey in the region. Everything will be solved as a whole. That’s why, Turkey will never retract from Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh problem for normalization of relations with Armenia. As the problems will be solved entirely in the regions, solution of Karabagh conflict cannot be left aside either. Furthermore, the United States is very busy with the economic crisis at present. I don’t believe that so-called “Armenian genocide” issue may assume importance in such crisis days.

– May the opening of borders be realized on the government’s initiative only? Will this issue be on the parliament’s agenda in the end?

– I don’t believe that the government will take any steps secretly from the people and the parliament. In one of the meetings in Washington, our Azerbaijani brother said if Turkey opened its borders with Armenia I would break all the windows of Turkish Embassy in Baku. This objection is his just right. But I want everybody to be sure that such issue is not on the agenda. We are brothers and Turkey will never sacrifice Azerbaijani brothers for its personal interests.

March 12, 2009
What Were Armenian Officials Thinking, If They Were Thinking at all?

sassoun@pacbell.net

Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 4:25 AM

Two shocking announcements made by Yerevan officials have deeply troubled Armenians worldwide.

The first statement was made by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan in Tsakhkadzor, Armenia on February 21, during an international economic forum — “Outlook for International Economic Cooperation: Problems and Solutions.” The conference was attended by high-ranking officials and businessmen from Russia, Bulgaria, Iran and many other countries.

In his speech titled, “International Economic Cooperation: New Policy,” the Prime Minister invited the participation of Russia and Turkey in the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Armenia. He said that the multi-billion-dollar project had not only economic but also political significance. The existing power plant, located near Yerevan, was commissioned in 1976. Several international organizations as well as neighboring Turkey have been pressing for the closure of the Medzamor power plant for several years, citing safety concerns. The new power plant is expected to be operational in 2016.

Turkish leaders have not yet responded to Mr. Sargsyan’s invitation. However, according to Russian sources, Ankara is said to be interested. An unidentified Turkish spokesman was quoted by Nezavisimaya Gazeta as stating: “The government of Turkey is anticipating an official appeal on participation in the atomic power plant from Armenian official circles. Only after that, the Turkish side may consider the prospect of participating in the project and announce its decision. If all the issues involved are complied with, Yerevan’s proposal may be accepted.”

Several Armenian analysts have raised serious concerns about involving Turkey in such a sensitive project. Some pointed out the risk to Armenia’s national security, given Turkey’s historical enmity. Other commentators brought up the total lack of experience of Turkish companies in constructing nuclear power plants. Ara Nranyan, an Armenian parliament member representing the ARF, a junior member of the governing coalition, stated that his party opposes Turkey’s participation in the new nuclear power plant and views it as “damaging to Armenia’s interests.”

How can Armenian officials offer a role in constructing a nuclear power plant to a country that denies the Genocide, refuses to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia, sets up a blockade to destroy its economy, and provides political and military support to Azerbaijan in the Artsakh (Karabagh) conflict?

The second disturbing development is an invitation by Armenian officials to Turkey’s Foreign Minister to attend the Black Sea Economic Conference (BSEC) on April 16-17, just days before the 94th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Armenia’s six-month rotating chairmanship of BSEC ends on April 30.

Armenians were further irritated by a report in the Turkish newspaper “Today’s Zaman” that “Armenia has rescheduled a foreign ministerial meeting of Black Sea countries, apparently as a goodwill gesture to ensure Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babajan will be among the participants.” Zaman reported that Armenian authorities had moved the date of the BSEC meeting “from the previously announced April 29 to April 16. The shift is significant because April 29 is only a few days after April 24.”

To add insult to injury, Zaman quoted unnamed Turkish officials as stating that Babajan has not confirmed his attendance, and that his participation depended on “Armenia’s commitment to the ongoing rapprochement process and the course of closed-door talks with Armenia.”

Turkish officials make frequent statements about “rapprochement” with Armenia in order to give the false impression that the two countries are reconciling with each other, thus hoping that the Obama administration and the U.S. Congress would not take any action on the Armenian Genocide.

While Ankara officials are constantly bombarding Washington with such fake messages, the Armenian side stays astonishingly silent, giving credence to Turkish misrepresentations which are intended to undermine the prospects of any U.S. declaration on the Armenian Genocide.

In a rare display of responsiveness, Tigran Balayan, the acting spokesman of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, issued a statement denying that the BSEC conference was rescheduled to accommodate Turkish concerns. Mr. Balayan, however, provided no explanation as to why the conference was not held before the month of April.

It is hard to believe that the Armenian government would invite the Turkish Foreign Minister to Armenia just one week before April 24. Mr. Babajan, a Genocide denialist and high-ranking official of a hostile country that is blockading Armenia, should never be welcomed in Yerevan, unless he intends to place a wreath at the Armenian Genocide Memorial Monument and offers an apology to the Armenian people!

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March 10, 2009