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EPHEMERAL POWER OF BAKU, OR ANOTHER HOPELESS VISIT
Friday, 06 February 2015 20:09
The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen are going to visit our region in the
nearest future. This has been recently stated by the U.S. Co-Chairman,
James Warlick, in an interview to the Armenian Service the Voice of
America Radio Station. According to him, the mediators are deeply
concerned about the serious violations and incidents in the Karabakh
conflict zone, which directly harm all the countries in the region.
, Warlick noted.
As we know, in late January, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen issued
a joint statement, in particular, emphasizing that . There
is no doubt that the upcoming visit of the international moderators,
who have repeatedly noted the inadmissibility of a military solution
to the issue, is aimed at the realization of the declared goals. This
move by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen can be only welcomed, but
we would also like to hope for their consistency, which has lacked
so far. And only in their recent joint statement, the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairmen dared to make a targeted appeal to Azerbaijan -
the true culprit of the escalation of the situation in the conflict
zone and of the deaths on both sides of the line of contact.
All this, again, deserves only approval. However, it is difficult
to get rid of certain skepticism, which does not allow to hope for
the success of the upcoming mission of the mediators. The matter,
of course, is not the lack of their peacekeeping potential. Not at all.
The stumbling block is the Azerbaijani party's disability for
negotiations. Azerbaijan has long lost the ability to perceive
adequately both the existing objective realities and reputable
international institutions' appeals to official Baku to adhere to the
basic norms and rules of a civilized society. The recent statement of
the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen, in which they directly recommended
Azerbaijan "to observe its commitments to a peaceful resolution of the
conflict", has undergone fierce obstruction by the power and public
structures. This totalitarian state displays a hostile attitude to
any fair criticism, attacking the opponents with tubs of dirty insults.
The recent examples are the aggressive, far from the norms of
human morality attacks of representatives of the official and
pro-governmentstructures of Azerbaijan against international
organizations, in particular, the PACE, Freedom House, Human Rights
Watch, as well as the U.S. State Department, which criticized the
ruling regime in Baku for mass gross violations of human rights.
Surely, this frenzied and unbridled reaction of the Azerbaijani
party has its explanation. And it is that the frantic tone towards
the critics of Azerbaijan is defined by its President, playingthe
first violin in this wickedly-brained orchestra. As the saying goes,
the parish is like its priest. In mid-January, speaking at a conference
summarising the passed year, the "priest", in response to the criticism
towards Azerbaijan, confidently stated, "Nobody can talk to us in the
language of diktat. Some wish to do so, but they can't and will never
be able to do". The roots of this megalomania lie inthe overestimation
of self-worth and exaggeration of self-estimation.
Aliyev, intoxicated by thepetrodollars, seems to seriously believe
that he is an independent political player, not even regional,but
global, and therefore can afford much and even all. "Surely, the
economic power allows us, without fearing of anyone, to state our
view on the political scene", he stated presumptuously.
Frankly, this is a topic for another conversation, but it is impossible
to be silent. According to Western experts, Azerbaijan, as an energy
supplier to Europe, should not rely too much on the European Union,
which is trying to diversify its energy sources and to rely on the
renewable energy, in order to be less dependent on oil and gas. In
this context, the importance of Azerbaijan as an energy supplier to
European countries is gradually reducing. In addition, again according
to international experts, the sharp fall in oil prices has seriously
downgraded the financial opportunities of Azerbaijan, 70% of the budget
of which is formed thanks to the oil revenues. This is what relates to
the economic component of the "power" of Azerbaijan. But, there is also
a moral component, which was described by the Azerbaijani political
scientist, Zardusht Alizadeh: "For Washington, Azerbaijan is such an
unimportant country that nobody will soil himself with it. Today,
we are dependent on Moscow more than in the Soviet period. We are
dependent on Moscow, on London, on Paris, on Tehran, and on Ankara,
because we are a weak state. And we are weak not because we have
little money, but because people do not believe in their Government".
Perhaps Aliyev's realization of these obvious truths and objective
realities would allow him to get rid of the arrogance and to
become more compliant. Unfortunately, this does not happen yet,
and Azerbaijan, still relying on the military force, rejects any
recommendations of international structures to normalize the situation
and to find a purely diplomatic way of the conflict settlement. So,
there is no doubt that the forthcoming negotiations of the OSCE
Minsk Group Co-Chairmen with the Azerbaijani President will once
again prove fruitless.
Leonid MARTIROSSIAN
Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper
http://artsakhtert.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1692:-ephemeral-power-of-baku-or-another-hopeless-visit&catid=3:all&Itemid=4
Friday, 06 February 2015 20:09
The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen are going to visit our region in the
nearest future. This has been recently stated by the U.S. Co-Chairman,
James Warlick, in an interview to the Armenian Service the Voice of
America Radio Station. According to him, the mediators are deeply
concerned about the serious violations and incidents in the Karabakh
conflict zone, which directly harm all the countries in the region.
, Warlick noted.
As we know, in late January, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen issued
a joint statement, in particular, emphasizing that . There
is no doubt that the upcoming visit of the international moderators,
who have repeatedly noted the inadmissibility of a military solution
to the issue, is aimed at the realization of the declared goals. This
move by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen can be only welcomed, but
we would also like to hope for their consistency, which has lacked
so far. And only in their recent joint statement, the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairmen dared to make a targeted appeal to Azerbaijan -
the true culprit of the escalation of the situation in the conflict
zone and of the deaths on both sides of the line of contact.
All this, again, deserves only approval. However, it is difficult
to get rid of certain skepticism, which does not allow to hope for
the success of the upcoming mission of the mediators. The matter,
of course, is not the lack of their peacekeeping potential. Not at all.
The stumbling block is the Azerbaijani party's disability for
negotiations. Azerbaijan has long lost the ability to perceive
adequately both the existing objective realities and reputable
international institutions' appeals to official Baku to adhere to the
basic norms and rules of a civilized society. The recent statement of
the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen, in which they directly recommended
Azerbaijan "to observe its commitments to a peaceful resolution of the
conflict", has undergone fierce obstruction by the power and public
structures. This totalitarian state displays a hostile attitude to
any fair criticism, attacking the opponents with tubs of dirty insults.
The recent examples are the aggressive, far from the norms of
human morality attacks of representatives of the official and
pro-governmentstructures of Azerbaijan against international
organizations, in particular, the PACE, Freedom House, Human Rights
Watch, as well as the U.S. State Department, which criticized the
ruling regime in Baku for mass gross violations of human rights.
Surely, this frenzied and unbridled reaction of the Azerbaijani
party has its explanation. And it is that the frantic tone towards
the critics of Azerbaijan is defined by its President, playingthe
first violin in this wickedly-brained orchestra. As the saying goes,
the parish is like its priest. In mid-January, speaking at a conference
summarising the passed year, the "priest", in response to the criticism
towards Azerbaijan, confidently stated, "Nobody can talk to us in the
language of diktat. Some wish to do so, but they can't and will never
be able to do". The roots of this megalomania lie inthe overestimation
of self-worth and exaggeration of self-estimation.
Aliyev, intoxicated by thepetrodollars, seems to seriously believe
that he is an independent political player, not even regional,but
global, and therefore can afford much and even all. "Surely, the
economic power allows us, without fearing of anyone, to state our
view on the political scene", he stated presumptuously.
Frankly, this is a topic for another conversation, but it is impossible
to be silent. According to Western experts, Azerbaijan, as an energy
supplier to Europe, should not rely too much on the European Union,
which is trying to diversify its energy sources and to rely on the
renewable energy, in order to be less dependent on oil and gas. In
this context, the importance of Azerbaijan as an energy supplier to
European countries is gradually reducing. In addition, again according
to international experts, the sharp fall in oil prices has seriously
downgraded the financial opportunities of Azerbaijan, 70% of the budget
of which is formed thanks to the oil revenues. This is what relates to
the economic component of the "power" of Azerbaijan. But, there is also
a moral component, which was described by the Azerbaijani political
scientist, Zardusht Alizadeh: "For Washington, Azerbaijan is such an
unimportant country that nobody will soil himself with it. Today,
we are dependent on Moscow more than in the Soviet period. We are
dependent on Moscow, on London, on Paris, on Tehran, and on Ankara,
because we are a weak state. And we are weak not because we have
little money, but because people do not believe in their Government".
Perhaps Aliyev's realization of these obvious truths and objective
realities would allow him to get rid of the arrogance and to
become more compliant. Unfortunately, this does not happen yet,
and Azerbaijan, still relying on the military force, rejects any
recommendations of international structures to normalize the situation
and to find a purely diplomatic way of the conflict settlement. So,
there is no doubt that the forthcoming negotiations of the OSCE
Minsk Group Co-Chairmen with the Azerbaijani President will once
again prove fruitless.
Leonid MARTIROSSIAN
Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper
http://artsakhtert.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1692:-ephemeral-power-of-baku-or-another-hopeless-visit&catid=3:all&Itemid=4