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Ramiz Mehdiyev: Azerbaijan will never agree to preserve the conflict in a frozen state and protract the resolution through endless talks

12 October 2010 11:58 (UTC +04:00)

Ramiz Mehdiyev said the beginning of the 21st century has been marked by the intensification of previous, and appearance of new, challenges and threats to overall security which could grow into international conflict. â€œAggressive separatism, transnational terrorism and armed conflicts can be resisted only through the joint efforts of the whole international community and through a cardinally new strategic approach to the avoidance and prevention of contemporary threats. The geopolitical status of the Caucasus and Caspian region has changed in the light of the aforementioned circumstances. The young independent states have new prospects to select their own development model,â€ he said.
Chief of the Presidential Administration noted that today, a particular factor threatening security and stability in the South Caucasus is the lack of an agreement on the peaceful resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. â€œThe conflict poses a great threat not only to the countries of the region but also to the international community. Stability and security in the region largely depend, therefore, on the fair resolution of the conflict as soon as possible and on the development of an effective mechanism to avert new conflicts in future. In turn, this would accelerate the formation of a new regional security structure for the South Caucasus, as an integral part of overall international security.â€
Ramiz Mehdiyev said the policy of the Azerbaijani leadership is oriented towards securing peaceful development and sociopolitical stability. â€œThis course depends upon both external and internal factors, since Azerbaijanâ€™s security is interdependent with the world situation, the interests of the superpowers and their approaches to the resolution of political, economic, military, environmental and other problems in the region. Despite the overall complexity of the current regional geopolitical situation, Azerbaijan is trying to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno Karabakh peacefully. It supports the creation of the right conditions for stability, security and economic development and maintains contacts with regional and world powers. In other words, Azerbaijan is seeking its paradigm of security, a reliable â€˜nicheâ€™ in international and regional systems of security, which would meet the countryâ€™s national interests.â€
According to Ramiz Mehdiyev, the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, caused by Armeniaâ€™s intention to expand its area by means of Azerbaijani territories, is one of the oldest seats of international tension. â€œTherefore, the soonest resolution of the Karabakh conflict should occupy an important place on the international agenda. The Azerbaijani leadership has repeatedly stated at the highest level that it is ready to bind the issue of the liberation of the occupied regions around Nagorno Karabakh with ensuring the security of the Armenian population, reopening transport communications and granting temporary status to Nagorno Karabakh, with the offer of the discussion of final status at the second stage of the settlement. As a politically stable and economically flourishing state, where representatives of dozens of ethnicities live in conditions of absolute peace and accord, Azerbaijan is able to provide a safer living space for the Armenian population. Unlike Armenia, where there is not a single Azerbaijani left of the 200,000 who used to be residents, today Azerbaijan has over 20,000 Armenians, television programs in Armenian, an Armenian information agency, and so on. The international community expects progress in the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. Such international structures as the OSCE, EU, Council of Europe and OIC think that the occupied lands should be immediately liberated and displaced persons should return home; the two communities â€“ Armenian and Azerbaijani â€“ should live together in peace and accord. We believe that if Armenia disavows its tactics of artificially delaying the issue through false claims and demonstrates a constructive approach, it will be possible to make significant changes in the negotiating process on the conflict settlement. Yerevan should stop its obstinacy in its policy of occupation and realize that a resolution of the conflict as soon as possible and the restoration of stability in the region meet Armenian interests.â€
Chief of the Presidential Administration said the inability of the international organizations to settle the conflict peacefully makes the configuration of regional and overall European security fragile and unreliable, which may, in turn, have unpredictable and serious implications. â€œThe unsettled armed conflict in the Nagorno Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and around it still remains a major obstacle to full scale regional cooperation and may seriously damage promising transnational projects to ensure European and global energy security.â€
Ramiz Mehdiyev said international practice shows that the artificial freezing of conflicts usually does not produce the desired effect. â€œThe long-lasting preservation of a state of â€˜neither peace, nor warâ€™ in a conflict area is a serious challenge to the system of regional and overall European security, since both terrorist organizations and criminal syndicates find refuge on uncontrolled occupied land and create their structures there.â€
Chief of the Presidential Administration noted that Azerbaijan will never agree to preserve the conflict in a frozen state and protract the resolution through endless talks. â€œCrimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and the creation of a mono-ethnic culture in the occupied Azerbaijani lands rudely violate international law and strengthen the status quo of occupation and the artificial settlement of the occupied lands, which also creates a serious threat to security in the region.â€