Domestic

Home page

Domestic

Gudrat Hasanguliyev: Azerbaijan can join the Customs Union and the Eurasian Union for the sake of Nagorno-Karabakh by maintaining its independence

17 September 2014 13:20 (UTC +04:00)

Gudrat Hasanguliyev said the West has held an unjust position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict since it began.

“There are powerful Armenian lobbies in the US and France, a leading EU state. The two countries are also the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs that are supposed to regulate the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In these countries, many presidents were changed and parties replaced one another, but their policies have remained unchanged. The reason is that no politician wants to spoil relations with Armenian lobbies because of Azerbaijan. There is also a Christian solidarity in the West. Therefore, it’s not worth anticipating a just position from the West. There are two options now. The first option for Azerbaijan is that the whole country is preparing for the war and economy transforms into military routine. So everyone in Armenia comes to understand that in case the war begins, even if they’re backed by Russia, Armenia is going to face annihilation. Because we will start a do-or-die battle against Armenia. Since it’s quite unlikely and risky, the second option is to come to some sort of understanding with Russia”, he said.

The party chairman said Azerbaijan can agree with Russia on its energy policy.

“I even think it’s quite possible for Russia to have a military base like Gabala RLS in Azerbaijan. Because the base was in Gabala, and in what form did it threaten our independence? Azerbaijan was a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization in 1994-1999. How seriously did it threaten our independence? So I think Azerbaijan can be a member of these organizations and structures in order to ensure Russia’s neutrality. In this case, we won’t need the war or spending a great deal on military, and we would even be able to solve the issue with Armenia by peaceful means. Azerbaijan must negotiate with Russia in this respect. At the same time, Azerbaijan should inform society about what Russia wants from us in exchange for Karabakh? What if Russia really lays down a set of conditions we could never accept?! Let’s imagine Russia says Azerbaijan should be a subject of the Russian Federation. So we need to make sure what exactly Russia seeks; does it want something or not, or wants the conflict to remain? Anyway, some portion of society thinks we can negotiate with Russia over this matter. In this respect, there are yet things to be clarified. That’s what I say”, he said.