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Baku Reaches Out To Armenian Hard-Liners In Karabakh PR Bid

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  • Baku Reaches Out To Armenian Hard-Liners In Karabakh PR Bid

    AZERBAIJAN: BAKU REACHES OUT TO ARMENIAN HARD-LINERS IN KARABAKH PR BID

    EurasiaNet
    Oct 15 2010
    NY

    Some Baku residents probably did a double-take when the news
    broke recently: two members of the Armenian Revolutionary
    Federation-Dashnaktsutiun, a nationalist Armenian party fervently
    opposed to Azerbaijan's claims to Nagorno-Karabakh, had arrived in
    the Azerbaijani capital on a surprise visit.

    The two men -- Kiro Manoian, one of the party's deputy chairs, and
    Mario Nalbandian, a member of its governing board -- were traveling at
    the invitation of the Social Democrat Party of Azerbaijan to attend
    an October 11-12 conference in Baku of the Socialist International,
    a worldwide alliance of left-wing parties. Public interest in the
    conference had been minimal; initial news of the two politicians'
    arrival came from Armenian media outlets.

    For many Azerbaijanis, the surprise lay more in the identity
    of the visitors than in the visit itself. Despite the ongoing
    hostility between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Armenian officials and
    politicians occasionally visit Baku to participate in international
    conferences and meetings. But members of the Armenian Revolutionary
    Federation-Dashnaktsutiun (ARF), who are often called Dashnaks, have
    a particular reputation among Azeris. Media outlets in Baku regularly
    characterize the party as a "terrorist organization."

    Asked to comment on the government's decision to allow the two ARF
    representatives to travel to Baku, Yeni Azerbaijan Party Executive
    Secretary Ali Ahmadov offered a surprise response. He described the
    decision as part of a public diplomacy campaign.

    "Azerbaijan uses different ways to achieve the return of its occupied
    territories. For this purpose, all necessary steps could be used,"
    Ahmadov told an October 13 news conference. Visits by Armenian
    politicians are "possible if it serves to facilitate the liberation of
    the occupied territory," he said, referring not only to Karabakh proper
    but also seven adjoining Azeri regions occupied by Armenian forces.

    Ahmadov did not elaborate how the trip by the ARF leaders served
    this purpose. The ARF, a former Armenian governing coalition member,
    is outspoken about its belief that Azerbaijan has no legitimate claim
    to Karabakh.

    One newspaper columnist, though, argued that denying the Dashnaks
    entrance to the Socialist International conference could have backfired
    on Azerbaijan. Social Democrat Party of Azerbaijan Co-Chairperson
    Araz Alizade attended a similar SI conference in Yerevan in 2009,
    the columnist, Rauf Mirkadirov, noted. "[A] refusal to let Armenians
    attend a similar conference in Baku would give Dashnaktsutiun a
    chance to talk about the Azerbaijani authorities' intolerance," said
    Mirkadirov, a commentator for Zerkalo. The conference "is a plus for
    the country's image," he added.

    Creating an appearance of intolerance on the eve of Azerbaijan's
    November 7 parliamentary elections is not likely a desirable goal
    for President Ilham Aliyev's administration. Aside from a more than
    three-hour delay upon arrival at Baku's airport - a snag caused by
    Nalbandian requiring a visa for his Argentine passport, according
    to Social Democrat Party of Azerbaijan Co-Chairperson Alizade -
    the Armenian duo's visit appeared to proceed without a hitch.
    Officials sometimes appeared careful about how they represented the
    government's role in the trip. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry and
    embassy in Tbilisi both claimed that they had not been contacted to
    grant permission for the two men to fly to Baku from Tbilisi on the
    state-run AZAL airline, Trend news agency reported.

    For all the mention of facilitating discussions with Armenian
    politicians, the Dashnaks' visit was not without conflict. Chanting
    "Armenian Dashnaks, get out of Baku!" about 30 activists from the
    hard-line Karabakh Liberation Organization on October 11 staged
    a demonstration outside the site of the Socialist International
    conference. Trying to execute that slogan, a few demonstrators managed
    to get inside the conference building, but were detained by police.
    Authorities eventually broke up the protest.

    During the conference, discussions hit a few pockets of turbulence.
    Armenian Revolutionary Federation Deputy Chairperson Manoian contended
    that the Karabakh peace process had stalled because "the OSCE Minsk
    Group and other international organizations want to return Karabakh
    to Azerbaijan." Peace can be reached only after Baku recognizes
    Karabakh's independence, he asserted - an opinion largely akin to
    waving a red flag before a bull for many Azerbaijanis. Social Democrat
    Party Co-Chairperson Alizade responded in kind. Armenia, he claimed,
    could hardly speak of Karabakh's independence from Azerbaijan, given
    that Armenia itself is the outgrowth of Azerbaijan's former khanate
    of Yerevan. "Social Democrats are against war, however, the occupied
    territories have to be liberated," Alizade said.

    In a later interview with News.az, Alizade said that he had invited
    the two men to the conference to show the Socialist International
    that the Dashnaks espouse a "national-socialist rather than social
    democratic" ideology. The alliance is expected to release its position
    on the Karabakh conflict in mid-November.

    Azerbaijani media, meanwhile, focused on another Karabakh-related topic
    -- the whereabouts of the body of slain Azerbaijani soldier Mubariz
    Ibrahimov, killed in June during a border skirmish with Armenian
    forces. The failure to return Ibrahimov's body to Azerbaijan has
    sparked much emotional outcry.

    Responding to reporters, Manoian, who plays no official role in
    such matters, blamed the International Committee of the Red Cross
    for not transferring the body from the "green zone," a strip of
    neutral territory separating Azerbaijani troops from Armenian and
    Karabakhi forces.

    ICRC spokesperson in Baku Ilakha Huseynova contested Manoian's claim,
    telling EurasiaNet.org that the Armenian government has confirmed
    that they have the bodies of Ibrahimov and another soldier, and that
    the ICRC has not received a request from Armenia to return the bodies.

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




    From: A. Papazian
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