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AZERBAIJAN SHOULD SEEK 'TO BREAK UP THE ARMENIAN LOBBY'
Mon 16 January 2012
News.Az interviews Russian journalist and political scientist Rustam
Arifjanov, vice-president of the Eurasian Academy of Sciences,
chairman of the Mediakratiya National Association of Journalists.
How would you assess the situation developing around Iran?
The situation is not favourable either for Iran or the entire
international community - and first of all not favourable to
Azerbaijan. The US chose its goal long ago. It doesn't matter what
the state is called that they think is hampering them in establishing
regimes which will be democratic.
Iran became a target of the US and its satellites back in 1979 after
the victory of the Iranian Islamic revolution. Since then, every
attempt has been made to destroy this regime and the Americans have
not backed off from this goal. It~Rs not known how soon they will
reach it, though, since Iran is a powerful country.
But we know and have seen that the Americans get what they want in
the end. By hook or by crook, they reach their goal.
Do you think that missile strikes will be launched sooner or later?
Yes, they will if they cannot ruin the regime in other ways. Bomb
strikes are not necessary. In fact, today problems are not always
solved by force. Despite the ideological fortress, the Islamic regime
is also experiencing certain corrosive influences. We have the notion
of network warfare where people are psychologically affected by radio,
satellite transmission and the Internet. In this case, the danger
for the Iranian regime is the incitement of ethnic hatred. It~Rs a
very convenient method for whoever wants to ruin Iran, since Iran is
a multi-ethnic country which is home not only to Persians but also
to ethnic Azerbaijanis and Kurds. And this is very dangerous. So I
would ask our fellow countrymen to carefully consider appeals for
the unification of the Azerbaijan Republic and the province of South
Azerbaijan (Iran).
Recently we saw that even some MPs have begun to call for the
Azerbaijan Republic to be renamed North Azerbaijan. Why are we hearing
such calls now? In fact, just now the aggravation of the situation
between the Azerbaijani and Persian population of Iran is not so
advantageous for the Azerbaijan Republic. All these statements in
Baku have a degree of naivety, although it is very beneficial to some
forces to stir enmity not only with Iran, but also with Azerbaijan.
The main thing is not to fall into this trap.
If war happens in Iran, how will it affect Azerbaijan, in particular,
the Karabakh conflict?
No doubt, it will have an effect. If military action involves the South
Caucasus, and this seems likely, a completely unexpected scenario
will unfold and will certainly have an impact on the course of the
Karabakh conflict. But I would call on our country not to view all
these problems through the spectrum of the Karabakh conflict. Yes,
it is our pain, our main problem but international politics is more
varied than one conflict. So, we should ensure that we do not find
ourselves hostages to the Karabakh conflict. There are many who would
like to see us in this position.
We know that in late January, Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev
wants to hold another tripartite meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh. Is it
worth hoping for anything from this meeting?
We should thank Medvedev for his efforts on this during his
presidential term, but we have to admit that they have not brought
much success. Dmitriy Medvedev really wants to leave office, having
made significant progress in the conflict. Therefore, we should seek
new models of conflict resolution, perhaps even using the factor of
strained relations between the West and Iran, but we have to play
a very fine diplomatic game. It is necessary to count the moves and
invent new options.
No doubt, we will resolve the Karabakh conflict, but we should do it
without losing any neighbour or partner.
When you say that we need to find new formats and ways to resolve
the conflict, does this mean that we should give up the OSCE Minsk
Group as the format for talks and look for new options?
We should continue to address this issue within the OSCE Minsk
Group and use the status of a non-permanent member of the UN Security
Council to conduct regular talks with representatives of the UN member
countries. We should act on all fronts. We should begin to work with
the Armenian lobby. We need to think and come up with some non-military
operation to break up the Armenian lobby in France and the US. We
need to think how to confront the elite, composed of ethnic French
and French nationals of Armenian origin. We should create a conflict
situation inside the Armenian diaspora and drive a wedge between the
diaspora and Armenia. In other words, we should work more cunningly,
flexibly and effectively.
Perhaps at first glance, it does not seem realistic, but we have to
think, to consider options that include additional tools as well as
use existing ones. That is, there's no need to cancel the work of
the OSCE, but we do need to invent something new.
Mon 16 January 2012
News.Az interviews Russian journalist and political scientist Rustam
Arifjanov, vice-president of the Eurasian Academy of Sciences,
chairman of the Mediakratiya National Association of Journalists.
How would you assess the situation developing around Iran?
The situation is not favourable either for Iran or the entire
international community - and first of all not favourable to
Azerbaijan. The US chose its goal long ago. It doesn't matter what
the state is called that they think is hampering them in establishing
regimes which will be democratic.
Iran became a target of the US and its satellites back in 1979 after
the victory of the Iranian Islamic revolution. Since then, every
attempt has been made to destroy this regime and the Americans have
not backed off from this goal. It~Rs not known how soon they will
reach it, though, since Iran is a powerful country.
But we know and have seen that the Americans get what they want in
the end. By hook or by crook, they reach their goal.
Do you think that missile strikes will be launched sooner or later?
Yes, they will if they cannot ruin the regime in other ways. Bomb
strikes are not necessary. In fact, today problems are not always
solved by force. Despite the ideological fortress, the Islamic regime
is also experiencing certain corrosive influences. We have the notion
of network warfare where people are psychologically affected by radio,
satellite transmission and the Internet. In this case, the danger
for the Iranian regime is the incitement of ethnic hatred. It~Rs a
very convenient method for whoever wants to ruin Iran, since Iran is
a multi-ethnic country which is home not only to Persians but also
to ethnic Azerbaijanis and Kurds. And this is very dangerous. So I
would ask our fellow countrymen to carefully consider appeals for
the unification of the Azerbaijan Republic and the province of South
Azerbaijan (Iran).
Recently we saw that even some MPs have begun to call for the
Azerbaijan Republic to be renamed North Azerbaijan. Why are we hearing
such calls now? In fact, just now the aggravation of the situation
between the Azerbaijani and Persian population of Iran is not so
advantageous for the Azerbaijan Republic. All these statements in
Baku have a degree of naivety, although it is very beneficial to some
forces to stir enmity not only with Iran, but also with Azerbaijan.
The main thing is not to fall into this trap.
If war happens in Iran, how will it affect Azerbaijan, in particular,
the Karabakh conflict?
No doubt, it will have an effect. If military action involves the South
Caucasus, and this seems likely, a completely unexpected scenario
will unfold and will certainly have an impact on the course of the
Karabakh conflict. But I would call on our country not to view all
these problems through the spectrum of the Karabakh conflict. Yes,
it is our pain, our main problem but international politics is more
varied than one conflict. So, we should ensure that we do not find
ourselves hostages to the Karabakh conflict. There are many who would
like to see us in this position.
We know that in late January, Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev
wants to hold another tripartite meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh. Is it
worth hoping for anything from this meeting?
We should thank Medvedev for his efforts on this during his
presidential term, but we have to admit that they have not brought
much success. Dmitriy Medvedev really wants to leave office, having
made significant progress in the conflict. Therefore, we should seek
new models of conflict resolution, perhaps even using the factor of
strained relations between the West and Iran, but we have to play
a very fine diplomatic game. It is necessary to count the moves and
invent new options.
No doubt, we will resolve the Karabakh conflict, but we should do it
without losing any neighbour or partner.
When you say that we need to find new formats and ways to resolve
the conflict, does this mean that we should give up the OSCE Minsk
Group as the format for talks and look for new options?
We should continue to address this issue within the OSCE Minsk
Group and use the status of a non-permanent member of the UN Security
Council to conduct regular talks with representatives of the UN member
countries. We should act on all fronts. We should begin to work with
the Armenian lobby. We need to think and come up with some non-military
operation to break up the Armenian lobby in France and the US. We
need to think how to confront the elite, composed of ethnic French
and French nationals of Armenian origin. We should create a conflict
situation inside the Armenian diaspora and drive a wedge between the
diaspora and Armenia. In other words, we should work more cunningly,
flexibly and effectively.
Perhaps at first glance, it does not seem realistic, but we have to
think, to consider options that include additional tools as well as
use existing ones. That is, there's no need to cancel the work of
the OSCE, but we do need to invent something new.