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IF AZERBAIJAN ALLOWS PUTTING THE STEPANAKERT AIRPORT INTO OPERATION, IT WILL DE FACTO RECOGNIZE NAGORNO-KARABAKH
March 20 2013
According to Arif Yunusov, a famous Azeri political scientist, Ilham
Aliyev will surely lose power; it is only a matter of time. * Mr.
Yunusov, why does Baku respond to reopening the Stepanakert airport so
aggressively, if there is a line of communication between Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh anyway? What is the problem? * It is a law of conflict
resolution; it is not that Azerbaijan is against communications between
Yerevan and Stepanakert. The issue is different; let us call a spade a
spade. If Azerbaijan allows aircrafts to land at that airport, tomorrow
an issue of arrivals from other countries will be raised. Those will
not be only aircrafts from Yerevan. Since Karabakh is not a subject
of international law, aircrafts cannot land in or take off from it,
given the international status. If Azerbaijan allows, it will de
facto recognize Nagorno-Karabakh; this is the problem. It is the
same as to ask why Azerbaijan demands that Western diplomats visit
Karabakh, getting Azerbaijan's permission. Certainly, one can say:
"Let them visit, what is the problem?" But the same issue underlies
this. Why has Georgia adopted the Occupation Act? We don't have such
a statute yet, but, by the way, it can be adopted; one should be ready
for Azerbaijan's adopting such a statute. So all this does not concern
the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, but the law of conflict
dominates here, i.e. if two people conflict, one of them should always
look for a reason to create a worse situation for the other, and the
other party should do that too. If there is no conflict, there will be
no difference whether an aircraft lands or not, there will be technical
issues, which will quickly be solved; it is about the Karabakh conflict
settlement. * However, now the issue of the Stepanakert airport has
become an issue discussed within the scope of the Karabakh conflict
settlement in the OSCE Minsk Group. So it turns out that new problems,
which stalemate the negotiating process, arise. * The Minsk Group is
an obstacle in itself, since, given the institution of co-chairs,
if the two parties cannot agree or don't want to agree, someone or
a few of them emerge, and it is clear that they have their interests
in the conflict. Let us consider the co-chair countries.
Does Russia have its interests? Certainly, it does. Does France have
interests? Certainly, it does. Does the United States have? It also
has. So besides ostensibly trying to settle the conflict, they pursue
their own interests in the region. That those interests don't coincide
also impedes the settlement, and we have witnessed that many times
in the history of the settlement process. When one of the co-chair
countries expects a rather active development, the other co-chair
countries don't want that. I have always stated that I am against the
institution of co-chairs. Negotiations will start when the Armenians
and the Azeris start to talk to each other directly. When it is done
through a certain party, both you and we try to influence Russia
or the US. So, realizing that they have their roles and interests,
we also start to act like that, which, in turn, causes a conflict
of interest. And that the parties don't talk to each other directly
testifies to the fact that we don't trust each other, i.e. we don't
really want to settle the conflict. When people in Azerbaijan and
Armenia talk about compromise, ask what is compromise for the Armenians
and what is compromise for the Azeris; to each of the parties, it is
compromise in its favor. The issue of the airport is actually easy
to solve, if there is mutual trust, and when there is no trust,
there is fear; nothing succeeds. * Mr. Yunusov, what is going on
in Azerbaijan? It is known that there are protests, the government
seems to be anxious, and there is great social discontent. Is that
only social discontent, or is it also political discontent with
the authorities? * All that combined. There is social discontent in
Azerbaijan, and it manifests itself in villages; a tide of discontent
rose there because of permissiveness and corruption. And political
discontent is related to elections, the Karabakh conflict etc. and
manifests itself in Baku. It is all mixed up in our country. It
is just that discontent with the government gradually grows in our
country. Those are challenges; this is also called a challenge in
conflict resolution, when something pressures society, society has
to respond adequately, if it cannot, it will lose. If we consider the
authorities in our country, then one is under the impression that they
live in a glass palace, and they don't always realize what is going
on in society. Sometimes the authorities themselves cause problems,
while one could solve those problems very easily. Sometimes I try
to understand why they act like that in this or that case; then I
realize that they don't respond adequately to the situation, they
don't understand the situation correctly - people are discontent,
there are social problems, low wages, an earthquake and a flood
happened in our country, people suffer - but on the other hand, there
is total permissiveness. * So there is danger today that Ilham Aliyev
will lose power? * It depends on the period you mean. Ilham Aliyev
will surely lose power; it is only a matter of time. The question
is when. I don't think that it may happen this year, but there is no
doubt that he will lose power, and there will be an explosion in our
country. EMMA GABRIELYAN Aravot Daily
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/03/20/153081/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia
From: Baghdasarian
March 20 2013
According to Arif Yunusov, a famous Azeri political scientist, Ilham
Aliyev will surely lose power; it is only a matter of time. * Mr.
Yunusov, why does Baku respond to reopening the Stepanakert airport so
aggressively, if there is a line of communication between Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh anyway? What is the problem? * It is a law of conflict
resolution; it is not that Azerbaijan is against communications between
Yerevan and Stepanakert. The issue is different; let us call a spade a
spade. If Azerbaijan allows aircrafts to land at that airport, tomorrow
an issue of arrivals from other countries will be raised. Those will
not be only aircrafts from Yerevan. Since Karabakh is not a subject
of international law, aircrafts cannot land in or take off from it,
given the international status. If Azerbaijan allows, it will de
facto recognize Nagorno-Karabakh; this is the problem. It is the
same as to ask why Azerbaijan demands that Western diplomats visit
Karabakh, getting Azerbaijan's permission. Certainly, one can say:
"Let them visit, what is the problem?" But the same issue underlies
this. Why has Georgia adopted the Occupation Act? We don't have such
a statute yet, but, by the way, it can be adopted; one should be ready
for Azerbaijan's adopting such a statute. So all this does not concern
the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, but the law of conflict
dominates here, i.e. if two people conflict, one of them should always
look for a reason to create a worse situation for the other, and the
other party should do that too. If there is no conflict, there will be
no difference whether an aircraft lands or not, there will be technical
issues, which will quickly be solved; it is about the Karabakh conflict
settlement. * However, now the issue of the Stepanakert airport has
become an issue discussed within the scope of the Karabakh conflict
settlement in the OSCE Minsk Group. So it turns out that new problems,
which stalemate the negotiating process, arise. * The Minsk Group is
an obstacle in itself, since, given the institution of co-chairs,
if the two parties cannot agree or don't want to agree, someone or
a few of them emerge, and it is clear that they have their interests
in the conflict. Let us consider the co-chair countries.
Does Russia have its interests? Certainly, it does. Does France have
interests? Certainly, it does. Does the United States have? It also
has. So besides ostensibly trying to settle the conflict, they pursue
their own interests in the region. That those interests don't coincide
also impedes the settlement, and we have witnessed that many times
in the history of the settlement process. When one of the co-chair
countries expects a rather active development, the other co-chair
countries don't want that. I have always stated that I am against the
institution of co-chairs. Negotiations will start when the Armenians
and the Azeris start to talk to each other directly. When it is done
through a certain party, both you and we try to influence Russia
or the US. So, realizing that they have their roles and interests,
we also start to act like that, which, in turn, causes a conflict
of interest. And that the parties don't talk to each other directly
testifies to the fact that we don't trust each other, i.e. we don't
really want to settle the conflict. When people in Azerbaijan and
Armenia talk about compromise, ask what is compromise for the Armenians
and what is compromise for the Azeris; to each of the parties, it is
compromise in its favor. The issue of the airport is actually easy
to solve, if there is mutual trust, and when there is no trust,
there is fear; nothing succeeds. * Mr. Yunusov, what is going on
in Azerbaijan? It is known that there are protests, the government
seems to be anxious, and there is great social discontent. Is that
only social discontent, or is it also political discontent with
the authorities? * All that combined. There is social discontent in
Azerbaijan, and it manifests itself in villages; a tide of discontent
rose there because of permissiveness and corruption. And political
discontent is related to elections, the Karabakh conflict etc. and
manifests itself in Baku. It is all mixed up in our country. It
is just that discontent with the government gradually grows in our
country. Those are challenges; this is also called a challenge in
conflict resolution, when something pressures society, society has
to respond adequately, if it cannot, it will lose. If we consider the
authorities in our country, then one is under the impression that they
live in a glass palace, and they don't always realize what is going
on in society. Sometimes the authorities themselves cause problems,
while one could solve those problems very easily. Sometimes I try
to understand why they act like that in this or that case; then I
realize that they don't respond adequately to the situation, they
don't understand the situation correctly - people are discontent,
there are social problems, low wages, an earthquake and a flood
happened in our country, people suffer - but on the other hand, there
is total permissiveness. * So there is danger today that Ilham Aliyev
will lose power? * It depends on the period you mean. Ilham Aliyev
will surely lose power; it is only a matter of time. The question
is when. I don't think that it may happen this year, but there is no
doubt that he will lose power, and there will be an explosion in our
country. EMMA GABRIELYAN Aravot Daily
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/03/20/153081/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia
From: Baghdasarian