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BAKU: Cornell: Azerbaijan should ask world why there is no support

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  • BAKU: Cornell: Azerbaijan should ask world why there is no support

    Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
    Feb 19 2008


    Svante Cornell: Azerbaijan should ask the world community why there
    is no support for the victims of Nagorno Karabakh conflict -
    EXCLUSIVE


    [ 19 Feb 2008 13:49 ]

    Washington. Husniyya Hasanova-APA. Svante Cornell, expert for
    Caucasus of Institute for Security and Development Policy of Sweden
    interviewed by APA

    -The world countries have started to recognize Kosovo's independence.
    Do you think that some states will take the same approach to Nagorno
    Karabakh in the pretext of recognition of Kosovo's independence?

    - Basically, my answer will be this. First the Armenian side
    certainly will try to make a precedent of Kosovo case and use it as
    an argument for the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh by the
    international community. However this is not necessarily likely to
    happen. But it also depends on the way in which Azerbaijan will deal
    with this political situation. What I mean is this: first, obviously
    there is difference between the case of Kosovo and Nagorno-Karabakh.
    The most important difference it is the issue of ethnic cleansing.
    You can say that there are similarities between Kosovo and
    Nagorno-Karabakh because of the fact that Kosovo is an ethnical
    Albanian state; the Armenians will argue that Nagorno-Karabakh is
    second Armenian state and there is nothing strange about it. However,
    in Kosovo it is very clear that the ethnic cleansing, a violation of
    the international humanitarian law was conducted by the Serbian
    government, almost half of the Kosovo population were forced flew
    from their homes at some point of conflict or either internally
    displaced as refuges. In the case of Karabakh, it was the Azerbaijani
    population not only in Karabakh but in the seven regions around
    Karabakh was subjected to the process of ethnic cleansing primarily.
    This means that in the case of Kosovo aggressor was mother state
    which is Serbia, in the case of Karabakh conflict the aggressor is
    the state which occupy the territory and it is Armenia. This is
    fundamental differences in the conflict which shows that those two
    conflicts are not comparable. What I am trying to point here that is
    this: the Azerbaijani government has a choice now between at the one
    hand to try to oppose during the recognition of Kosovo and implicitly
    accept that there is precedent and act against this precedent. I
    would think that much more intelligent way to react the situation
    would be embrace the situation and to say that in the case of Kosovo
    the victims of ethnic cleansing were given the support of
    international community however in the case of Azerbaijan we do not
    see the same level of support for the victims of ethnic cleansing.

    -The world community is not informed well about the differences of
    the conflicts of Kosovo and Nagorno Karabakh. Do you think it gives
    advantages to Armenian side?

    - Let me answer your question in this way: Thanks to the very good
    economic situation in the past few years, Azerbaijan has been able
    gradually very strongly improve its capacity to carry its message to
    the world. I think it will be the first priority of Azerbaijani
    government to use these financial abilities in order to in a very
    smart way hailer the message and hailer the discussion of the issue
    toward international community. And with the help its allies, I think
    with the help of the western countries that supported the
    independence of Kosovo but who don't want this translating into the
    precedent for the Caucasus, I think Azerbaijan should work both on
    the public opinion in the west and secondly should work together with
    its western allies to basically make sure that its position is
    understood by the western community.

    - Do you think Kosovo precedent will complicate the negotiations
    around the Nagorno Karabakh conflict?

    - I would say that Kosovo question has delayed the procedure of the
    conflict resolution in all South Caucasus region. I think for the
    past three years at least, it has been an obstacle the Kosovo's
    conflict resolution because everybody was waiting what is gonna
    happen in Kosovo. I think that for the certain period of time it will
    continue to have an impact on the negotiation process. It is a
    delicate situation and difficult situation. The major impact which
    the Kosovo case is going to have it will decrease the Armenian sides
    interest in a compromise. Already in Armenia you find that there is
    an argument that the process of self-determination is gaining the
    increasing international recognition. They speak about East Timor,
    Eritrea, Montenegro and now about Kosovo. What they are saying is
    that the principle of self-determination is getting more ground. What
    I think is important to know, especially for Azerbaijan, is that self
    determination and territorial integrity not necessarily opposite.
    There is not legal provision which say that the self determination is
    equal to independence. In this situation it is in the interest of
    Armenia to use the Kosovo case as a precedent for Karabakh. However
    it will be dependent on the foreign polices of Armenia and Azerbaijan
    to present their arguments in front of the world community to see
    which one gets support. As we know that the 1990ths Armenia was very
    successful in influencing the international opinion and gradually
    over time we have relatively increase in Azerbaijan's ability to
    carry its message to the world.
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