Foreign

Home page

Foreign

Former Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan Vasliy Istratov: â€œAzerbaijan takes special place in the South Caucasian policy of every countryâ€

04 June 2009 15:45 (UTC +04:00)

Moscow â€“ APA. â€œAzerbaijan is the largest country of the South Caucasus for its economic, demographic and geographic indications. Therefore it takes special place in the South Caucasian policy of every country, including Russiaâ€, said former Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan Vasiliy Istratov in his interview with Vestnik Kavkaza, APA reports.

He said some journalists and political analysts had a phobia to claim that Moscow supported talsih and lezgin actions against the national interests of Azerbaijan. â€œWhile working in Azerbaijan I understood that there were neither talish nor lezgin movements there. There are people who are talking about the difficulties of talish and lezgin peoples, but every people faces with the difficulties. If the question is about the ethnic minorities, the difficulties are not avoidable. But it doesnâ€™t mean that all problems of he talish and lezgin people were solved, their problems are on the way of solution, as the problems of Azerbaijanis are solved. The government of Azerbaijan pursued wise policy in all regions of Azerbaijan, particularly the regions populated by ethnic minorities. To seek Russian sign in the problems of lezgin-populated areas is an attempt to relate any appearance of the problems with the outside forces. Other countries are also facing with such situation, where they try to relate the sources of the problems with the outside forces. Azerbaijan and Russia have mostly common problems. The instability in Azerbaijan can easily extend to Russia and instability in Russia can extend to Azerbaijan. And wise politicians on both sides of the border know that. Therefore the attempts to destroy the neighbor country for self-defense goals donâ€™t sound seriouslyâ€.