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  • Baku-Berlin: Karabakh is back in the spotlight

    Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
    Jan 24 2015

    Baku-Berlin: Karabakh is back in the spotlight

    24 January 2015 - 6:22pm
    by Orhan Sattar, director of the European Bureau of "Vestnik Kavkaza"


    A recent working visit of the President of Azerbaijan to Germany,
    after which Ilham Aliyev went to Davos, Switzerland, has left a lot of
    information to think about. For obvious reasons, many details of the
    negotiations and agreements were reached "behind closed doors".
    However, some results of the visit are evident today.

    First, the working visit of President Aliyev to Berlin was initiated
    by the German Chancellor, and had been prepared in the shortest
    possible time. So Germany acted as the party which initiated a meeting
    with the Azerbaijani leader. What did the Germans so urgently need
    from Baku?

    It is known that Germany, like the rest of the EU, is in a violent
    confrontation with Russia and attaches great importance to alternative
    sources of energy supplies. Angela Merkel said this at the press
    conference following the visit of Ilham Aliyev. It is noteworthy that
    in her statement, Merkel, speaking about the growing importance of
    Azerbaijan as a partner in Europe, did not dissemble and made the
    initial focus on the presence of the country's oil and gas reserves,
    as well as the "Southern Energy Corridor" project. In this context
    Merkel also stressed the possible role of German companies in the
    diversification of the Azerbaijani economy.

    The second component of the visit, according to Merkel, is the current
    geopolitical situation of Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh
    conflict. Finally, the third component is the internal political
    situation in Azerbaijan, including human rights issues. In particular,
    the German Chancellor raised the topic of the functioning in the
    country of various German foundations and organizations on a solid
    legal basis.

    It is quite symbolic that the background to the Berlin visit of Ilham
    Aliyev was the sensational statement by the head of "Gazprom", Alexey
    Miller, about the planned rejection of the transit of Russian gas to
    the European Union through Ukraine. To confirm his words, the head of
    "Gazprom" a few days ago set a deadline for stopping the flow of gas
    through Ukraine (2019). In the same year, President Aliyev said that
    the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project will be launched, through which
    gas from the Caspian basin will be delivered to Europe. At the same
    time, Russia is planning to build its own "Turkish Stream" instead of
    "South Stream", the implementation of which until the last minute was
    inhibited by Brussels. It would seem that the energy interests of
    Azerbaijan and Russia are intersecting again, but Moscow and Baku,
    despite this, have embarked on an active policy of rapprochement.
    Obviously, in this regard, the EU, which has not come to its senses
    after Vladimir Putin's "Turkish gas combination", had questions for
    Ilham Aliyev. The formation of a Moscow-Baku-Ankara energy triangle
    cannot buf worry the Europeans, especially taking into account the
    close relationship and mutual sympathy between the leaders of all
    three countries.

    The European Union has joined in with an uncompromising geopolitical
    confrontation with Russia, seeking to win the immediate surroundings
    of Russia to its side. In the case of Moldova and Georgia, where the
    authorities are openly pro-Western forces and where quite a clear
    Atlantic foreign policy vector is marked, this problem can be solved
    relatively easily. Azerbaijan, which has much greater economic
    stability and, as a consequence, real sovereignty, is a hard nut to
    crack for the West. Baku is not going to sacrifice its relations with
    Moscow in favor of third countries, while the West has turned a blind
    eye itself to the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia.

    The questions that German media posed to President Aliyev are quite
    revealing (as a rule, questions are agreed with the protocol service
    of the Chancellor). A journalist of public television ZDF asked the
    president of Azerbaijan how realistic the self-restoration of
    territorial integrity of Ukraine seems to him. And why should the
    President of Azerbaijan respond to such a question - the president of
    the country which doesn't even have a common border with Ukraine? What
    is this, if not merely a veiled attempt to provoke a head of state to
    anti-Russian statements? However, this number did not work with
    graduate of Moscow State University Aliyev. Confirming Azerbaijan's
    commitment to the principle of territorial integrity, the President of
    Azerbaijan led the conversation in another direction: all conflicts
    that result in violations of the territorial integrity of states must
    be resolved by a unified approach - this is what Azerbaijan expects
    from the West.
    After this response, the Western partners apparently weren't
    satisfied, and a German journalist seems to have been given the
    command "bite" and critical issues related to the human rights
    situation in Azerbaijan in the western interpretation fell on the
    president. At the same time, the German journalists, unceremoniously
    violating the regulations of the press conference (originally it was
    negotiated that each of the leaders were to be asked two questions),
    asked for two or even three items at a time. This was done with the
    tacit consent of the moderator. But let us return to the essence of
    the question: Is Germany ready for a common approach to conflicts
    involving the violation of the territorial integrity of states?
    Obviously not. At least, as long as Karabakh separatists such as "NKR
    Parliamentary Speaker" Ashot Gulian quietly enter the territory of
    Germany, hold their conference in Berlin with the participation of
    German experts, and even meet here with members of the Bundestag. Can
    you imagine a similar conference being held in Berlin by the leaders
    of the "DPR" and the "LPR"? At best, they would be turned back from
    the German border, and at worst, would be handed over to the Kiev
    authorities. So the EU doesn't even think of demonstrating a unified
    approach to conflicts that violate territorial integrity. The
    principle of territorial integrity in different situations is becoming
    a priority for the European Union to a greater or lesser extent, only
    according to their own interests.
    Answering the question of an Azerbaijani journalist about why Germany
    does not impose sanctions against Armenia, which has occupied
    Azerbaijani territories, and that maybe this is a manifestation of
    double standards, Angela Merkel "passed the buck" to Russia.
    "Russia plays an important role in this conflict. Armenia and Russia
    stick to a common position on this issue, so you can assume that we
    have a unified approach," Merkel said.

    As Vestnik Kavkaza noted, the Bundeskanzler's answer does not hold any
    water, because even before the Ukrainian events (even after the August
    war with Georgia) Europeans were very favorable to the Kremlin's role
    in the conflict, and didn't skimp, for example, to praise Dmitry
    Medvedev during his active mediation mission. But at this stage, when
    Russia and the West are in a state of confrontation, the position of
    Berlin has changed. Now, according to Merkel, Russia and Azerbaijan
    are almost opposing sides of the conflict. What is this, if not
    another attempt to pit Baku against Moscow?

    Finally, if this is the case, then how will Frau Merkel explain the
    annual allocation of financial assistance of tens of millions of
    dollars to the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh regime from the United
    States's budget, not Russia's? Is it possible to imagine that the US
    has provided direct financial assistance to Abkhazia, South Ossetia,
    the "DPR" or "LPR"? In the case of the Karabakh separatists, it
    happens the other way around, as the West has significant interests in
    the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and uses it (as well as other centers of
    power) as a lever of pressure on both sides of the conflict - Armenia
    and Azerbaijan.

    Taking a clear position of uncompromising respect for international
    law in the conflict, the West at the same time was "eliminated" from
    the struggle for political influence in Armenia. And there is no
    question that the EU and the United States persist in their attempts
    to win Yerevan over to their side. Their barely disguised support for
    inciting anti-Russian sentiments after the events in Gyumri is clear
    proof of this fact. Besides, we should not forget that the Armenian
    nationalists are in great favor in the West, because they played a
    significant role in destabilizing the political situation in the USSR
    under Mikhail Gorbachev, which ultimately led to the "greatest
    geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century."

    In such circumstances, under the pretext of Ukrainian sanctions
    already introduced against Russia, Germany is trying to justify the
    lack of political will to impose sanctions against Armenia - a
    sovereign (at least formally) state, whose troops, according to the
    Government of Germany (!), are located in Nagorno-Karabakh and the
    other surrounding occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

    As Angela Merkel noted, Azerbaijan, as a member of the "Eastern
    Partnership", does not aspire to EU membership - such a model of
    cooperation, according to the Chancellor, was the starting point of
    the "Eastern Partnership". Yes, unlike Kiev, Tbilisi and Chisinau,
    self-contained Baku is not going to mark time in the waiting room of
    the EU. The central problem of the country is the occupation of one
    fifth of its territory. And in its relations with Washington,
    Brussels, Berlin and Moscow, Azerbaijan gives top priority to a
    resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in accordance with their
    own national interests and on the basis of international law, which in
    this case means the same basic principles of settlement. And Baku will
    take into account this factor while building energy and political
    relations with Germany and the West in general, and with all the other
    partners.


    http://vestnikkavkaza.net/analysis/politics/65206.html




    From: A. Papazian
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