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Farhad Mammadov: â€œThere are countries in the South Caucasus that fail to determine their foreign policiesâ€

03 September 2013 09:10 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Shamil Alibeyli – APA. “The conflicts in the South Caucasus have been lasting for 20 years and all the three countries are suffering from this. The resolution of the conflicts can help to create a single economic and political space,” said Farhad Mammadov, director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, addressing the second day of “South Caucasus in a changing world” forum, APA reports.

Farhad Mammadov said basing on the international law Baku proved that Armenia changed Azerbaijan’s borders by force, added that this fact is reflected in the resolutions adopted by a number of international organizations, including the UN Security Council.

“The resolutions of the UN Security Council on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict have not been fulfilled yet. When the Security Council adopted a resolution on Libya, the fulfillment of the resolution was started a few hours later, but the resolutions regarding the Nagorno Karabakh conflict have not been fulfilled yet. In this case, Azerbaijan is obliged to use its own opportunities, one of them is punitive measures against Armenia. Armenia is currently suffering from isolation, while Azerbaijan is increasing its military expenses. Armenia has been isolated from the major energy projects in the region. Up to 2006, this country had been able to develop its economy at the expense of Diaspora organizations abroad.

The growth reduced as the financial crisis began in 2008. Azerbaijan approaches Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from the point of view of the loss of territories and existence of one million refugees and IDPs. Our country has been able to achieve all its goals and is clearly establishing its own future. If Armenia thinks about its future, it should be constructive and withdraw its occupying armed forces.”

Mammadov also added that there are countries in the South Caucasus that fail to determine their foreign policies: “Armenia is one of these countries and depends on Russia. On the one hand, Armenian signed an association agreement with the European Union, on the other hand it has traditional ally like Russia. This is leading to disputes inside the country. A landlocked country must have good relations with the Eastern and Western countries, this is an axiom. Georgia is strengthening its economy cooperating with Turkey and Azerbaijan. We want to have fully independent countries around us.”

Touching on the lack of progress in the negotiations ongoing within the OSCE Minsk Group, Mammadov noted that the member countries of the Group are the most powerful states of the world and permanent members of the Security Council: “The negotiations are ineffective. We believed that the OSCE Minsk Group would force Armenia to withdraw its army from Nagorno-Karabakh respecting its decisions.”