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BAKU: Charles King: "The Nagorno-Karabakh Issue Remains Azerbaijan's

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  • BAKU: Charles King: "The Nagorno-Karabakh Issue Remains Azerbaijan's

    Charles King: "The Nagorno-Karabakh issue remains Azerbaijan's most serious immediate concern on its further development" - EXCLUSIVE

    Azeri Press Agency
    April 22 2008
    Azerbaijan

    Expert of Georgetown University on the Caucasus and Balkans Charles
    King interviewed by APA

    - NATO summit was held in Bucharest. Unlike Georgia and Ukraine,
    where the countries' societies are supporting the membership in NATO,
    the Azerbaijani society doesn't have firm position on the issue. Thus
    it would be interesting to know your opinion about perspectives of
    Azerbaijan's membership in NATO and its impact on the Nagorno-Karabakh
    conflict.

    -NATO has been clear that the resolution of internal conflicts and good
    neighborly relations with surrounding states are important criteria for
    membership. The US has pushed Georgia forward on the path to eventual
    membership, but that policy has had more to do with US strategic
    interests in Georgia than with the degree to which Georgia fulfills
    (or doesn't fulfill) some of the basic criteria. An instructive case
    is Romania. It was not until Romania and Hungary signed a treaty
    renouncing any mutual territorial claims and committed to developing
    sound interstate relations that Romania was able to advance toward
    membership.

    I think the same logic will apply farther to the east, if there is
    eventually another wave of NATO enlargement.

    - You are one of the well known experts on the Balkan conflict. Your
    most recent book "The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus" is
    devoted to our region too. We know that the international community
    had reacted seriously on the policy of ethnic cleansing, terrible
    crimes against Kosovars and NATO started military "rescue" operation
    against official Belgrade. But absolutely another respond came for
    the crimes of the Armenian illegal bands in Nagorno-Karabakh. As
    a result of the policy of ethnic cleansing Armenia occupies 20%
    of Azerbaijani lands and appeals to the Kosovo precedent now...

    -Conflicts in the Balkans presented an immediate security threat
    to several European states, both because of the flight of refugees
    and because of the reappearance of armed conflict on the borders of
    the EU and within the traditional area of operations of NATO. The
    Caucasus--for better or worse--has long been considered outside the
    immediate sphere of interest of both organizations. However, as these
    two organizations reassess their security interests and the possibility
    of future enlargement to the east, the Caucasus comes squarely within
    their zone of concern. I think it would be a mistake to take away
    any particular lessons from the Balkans, however. After all, in the
    case of Kosovo, the international community supported secessionist
    demands, while in Bosnia and Croatia (especially the Serb Republic of
    the Krajina) the response was to support the territorial integrity
    of the existing states. So, the precedents that one can derive from
    the Balkan experience are unclear at best.

    -On March 20 you paneled the US-Azerbaijan conference in Georgetown
    University. One of the main topics was the main threats to Azerbaijan
    in the region. How serious threat may Russia, Iran and unsolved
    Nagorno-Karabakh conflict create for Azerbaijan in its decision to
    integrate the European institutions? Do you see Iran or Russia as
    the main threat to secular democratic Azerbaijan now?

    -Many of the speakers see things in different ways, so it is difficult
    to comment on the event as a whole. In my view, the Nagorno-Karabakh
    issue remains Azerbaijan's most serious immediate concern, just as
    other unresolved disputes in Georgia and Moldova serve as a brake on
    the further development of these states. At the same time, I think it
    is incumbent on the Azerbaijani Government not to use its newfound
    oil and gas wealth as a way of increasing its military capabilities
    in such a way that would further destabilize the situation. A renewed
    war over Nagorno-Karabakh would be disastrous for the entire south
    Caucasus and would present a serious set-back to all countries'
    efforts to integrate with Euro-Atlantic institutions.
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