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PRESIDENTS INSISTS ON MORE ENERGETIC FOREIGN POLICY
Svetlana Khachatrjan
DEFENSE and SECURITY
March 21, 2008 Friday
Russia
NAGORNO-KARABAKH FOREIGN MINISTER GEORGY PETROSJAN: AZERBAIJAN
IS ADVISED THAT PUTTING US UNDER PRESSURE IS A WASTE OF TIME; An
interview with Nagorno-Karabakh Foreign Minister Georgy Petrosjan.
Question: The UN General Assembly discussed Nagorno-Karabakh on
Azerbaijan's insistence at its meeting on March 14. Results of the
discussion are well known. Any comment on the resolution adopted by
the UN General Assembly?
Georgy Petrosjan: Something of paramount importance has happened. The
OSCE Minsk Group announced in no uncertain terms that presenting
unilaterally-drawn documents to the UN were wrong. Azerbaijan went
ahead all the same, and that's what happened. When the motion was
put to a vote, 39 countries voted "aye" but almost 150 including EU
leaders either abstained or voted "nay". All chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group voted against the resolution too. I believe Azerbaijan
was sent a message and advised that putting us under pressure is
a waste of time, that no such methods will work with us. Secondly,
I believe that whatever the authorities of Azerbaijan might think
they have been doing and however they hope to present themselves to
their own people, all they accomplished is persuading everyone that
Baku does not want a peaceful solution.
The president insists on a more energetic foreign policy, and that
applies to both Armenian republics.
Making use of the domestic situation in Armenia at this point,
Azerbaijan put a complicated program into motion. Baku is clearly
upset by the recognition of Kosovo as a sovereign state by a number
of foreign countries. The Azerbaijani authorities' very behavior
is calculated to show everyone including Azerbaijani society and
the international community that Kosovo is not a precedent for
Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku openly defies the negotiations that have
been under way for years now, the negotiations where our status is
a key principle. Azerbaijan's actions (blockade of Armenia, regular
provocations along the contact line, informational war) plainly show
that it has panicked. No wonder, since Azerbaijan has finally found
itself in a trap of its own making. No matter how hard Baku is trying
to present the UN discussion as its triumph, it has been licked and
it knows it.
Question: Is there any connection between Baku's initiative at the
UN level and the deterioration of the situation along the contact line?
Georgy Petrosjan: All of that merely serves as proof of exactly what
the Azerbaijani leadership has been after all along. Its efforts to
compromise Karabakh, score a moral victory, and put the international
community under pressure via the UN proved futile. It must have been
a hard blow at Baku's morale.
Question: What effect will the latest events in Armenia have on the
international image of the country? And by the way, can they have
any effect on the Karabakh settlement?
Georgy Petrosjan: The post-election situation in Armenia is something
we've been viewing with regret. My sincere condolences to the victims'
families.
Any serious discord in any foreign country inevitably weakens it
to a larger or smaller degree. I suspect that this is exactly what
Azerbaijan counted on when it mounted the diplomatic attack at the
UN level.
Question: How do you view the deterioration at the contact line -
as a corollary of post-election events in Armenia or in connection
with the forthcoming election in Azerbaijan?
Georgy Petrosjan: That is no coincidence. The events where lives were
lost in Yerevan took place on March 1. The Azerbaijani army attacked
Karabakh positions on March 3-4. We repelled the attack.
Stepanakert invited the OSCE Minsk Group to the area to come and get
all the facts. Azerbaijan denied international observers a permit
to enter its territory on the way to Nagorno-Karabakh. It is another
evidence of what Baku is really after, i.e. deliberate deterioration
of the situation.
I suspect that Azerbaijan will keep up tension along the contact line
in order to address its own domestic problems. Well, we are taking the
adequate steps. We regularly update the OSCE Minsk Group and expect
the OSCE to draw the correct conclusions. I hope that the visit of
the OSCE executive to the contact line will result in an unprejudiced
evaluation of the situation. Enough of mud-slinging and blame-pinning.
What happened was unprecedented. We informed the OSCE that its failure
to offer a political evaluation of the episode will only encourage
Azerbaijan. What is Azerbaijan trying to accomplish? Has it been
thinking of its territorial integrity or has it been trying to put
us under pressure? If the latter, then Baku should remember that we
are determined to put up a fight. Let it be a lesson to them.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Svetlana Khachatrjan
DEFENSE and SECURITY
March 21, 2008 Friday
Russia
NAGORNO-KARABAKH FOREIGN MINISTER GEORGY PETROSJAN: AZERBAIJAN
IS ADVISED THAT PUTTING US UNDER PRESSURE IS A WASTE OF TIME; An
interview with Nagorno-Karabakh Foreign Minister Georgy Petrosjan.
Question: The UN General Assembly discussed Nagorno-Karabakh on
Azerbaijan's insistence at its meeting on March 14. Results of the
discussion are well known. Any comment on the resolution adopted by
the UN General Assembly?
Georgy Petrosjan: Something of paramount importance has happened. The
OSCE Minsk Group announced in no uncertain terms that presenting
unilaterally-drawn documents to the UN were wrong. Azerbaijan went
ahead all the same, and that's what happened. When the motion was
put to a vote, 39 countries voted "aye" but almost 150 including EU
leaders either abstained or voted "nay". All chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group voted against the resolution too. I believe Azerbaijan
was sent a message and advised that putting us under pressure is
a waste of time, that no such methods will work with us. Secondly,
I believe that whatever the authorities of Azerbaijan might think
they have been doing and however they hope to present themselves to
their own people, all they accomplished is persuading everyone that
Baku does not want a peaceful solution.
The president insists on a more energetic foreign policy, and that
applies to both Armenian republics.
Making use of the domestic situation in Armenia at this point,
Azerbaijan put a complicated program into motion. Baku is clearly
upset by the recognition of Kosovo as a sovereign state by a number
of foreign countries. The Azerbaijani authorities' very behavior
is calculated to show everyone including Azerbaijani society and
the international community that Kosovo is not a precedent for
Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku openly defies the negotiations that have
been under way for years now, the negotiations where our status is
a key principle. Azerbaijan's actions (blockade of Armenia, regular
provocations along the contact line, informational war) plainly show
that it has panicked. No wonder, since Azerbaijan has finally found
itself in a trap of its own making. No matter how hard Baku is trying
to present the UN discussion as its triumph, it has been licked and
it knows it.
Question: Is there any connection between Baku's initiative at the
UN level and the deterioration of the situation along the contact line?
Georgy Petrosjan: All of that merely serves as proof of exactly what
the Azerbaijani leadership has been after all along. Its efforts to
compromise Karabakh, score a moral victory, and put the international
community under pressure via the UN proved futile. It must have been
a hard blow at Baku's morale.
Question: What effect will the latest events in Armenia have on the
international image of the country? And by the way, can they have
any effect on the Karabakh settlement?
Georgy Petrosjan: The post-election situation in Armenia is something
we've been viewing with regret. My sincere condolences to the victims'
families.
Any serious discord in any foreign country inevitably weakens it
to a larger or smaller degree. I suspect that this is exactly what
Azerbaijan counted on when it mounted the diplomatic attack at the
UN level.
Question: How do you view the deterioration at the contact line -
as a corollary of post-election events in Armenia or in connection
with the forthcoming election in Azerbaijan?
Georgy Petrosjan: That is no coincidence. The events where lives were
lost in Yerevan took place on March 1. The Azerbaijani army attacked
Karabakh positions on March 3-4. We repelled the attack.
Stepanakert invited the OSCE Minsk Group to the area to come and get
all the facts. Azerbaijan denied international observers a permit
to enter its territory on the way to Nagorno-Karabakh. It is another
evidence of what Baku is really after, i.e. deliberate deterioration
of the situation.
I suspect that Azerbaijan will keep up tension along the contact line
in order to address its own domestic problems. Well, we are taking the
adequate steps. We regularly update the OSCE Minsk Group and expect
the OSCE to draw the correct conclusions. I hope that the visit of
the OSCE executive to the contact line will result in an unprejudiced
evaluation of the situation. Enough of mud-slinging and blame-pinning.
What happened was unprecedented. We informed the OSCE that its failure
to offer a political evaluation of the episode will only encourage
Azerbaijan. What is Azerbaijan trying to accomplish? Has it been
thinking of its territorial integrity or has it been trying to put
us under pressure? If the latter, then Baku should remember that we
are determined to put up a fight. Let it be a lesson to them.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress