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Azerbaijani President Lashes Out At "Armenian Nationalists"

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  • Azerbaijani President Lashes Out At "Armenian Nationalists"

    EURASIANET.ORG
    Thursday, March 30, 2006

    EURASIA INSIGHT
    AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT LASHES OUT AT "ARMENIAN NATIONALISTS"
    Mina Muradova and Rufat Abbasov 3/29/06

    Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, has lashed out at Armenia,
    claiming that "Armenian ideologists-nationalists" have pursued a
    policy of aggression against Azeris for "about 200 years." Aliyev's
    vitriolic rhetoric indicates that the window for a negotiated solution
    to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is slamming shut.

    In his March 28 address, Aliyev said Armenians aimed "to oust
    Azerbaijanis from their lands, and create a state of 'Greater
    Armenia.'" He went on to assert that Yerevan was solely responsible
    for starting hostilities between the two countries "aiming to forcibly
    unify Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia."

    He complained that "the history of our nation has been roughly
    distorted" by a comprehensive Armenian propaganda campaign that
    "mobilized the Armenia diaspora and lobby for those purposes,"
    according to the text of the address distributed by the official
    AzerTag news agency.

    Aliyev's speech occurred roughly six weeks after he and his Armenian
    counterpart, Robert Kocharian, failed to achieve a breakthrough in
    Karabakh peace negotiations during a summit meeting in France. [For
    background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In the weeks leading up
    to that meeting, hopes ran high that the two leaders would agree on a
    peace framework. Though few details of the discussions have emerged,
    observers believe that disagreement over the timing and the scope
    of a Karabakh referendum concerning the territory's political future
    emerged as an insurmountable obstacle to a settlement.

    Since the summit, international mediators had expressed hope that
    a settlement could still be found in 2006. [For background see
    the Eurasia Insight archive]. Aliyev's comments indicate, however,
    that Baku doesn't believe a peaceful settlement is achievable in the
    near term.

    Claiming that Armenia has "become a hostage to the idea of a 'great
    state,'" Aliyev alleged that peace talks stalled yet again "because of
    the destructive and aggressive policy of the Armenian leadership." He
    reiterated that Azerbaijan is committed to a negotiated Karabakh
    settlement that provides for "the restoration of our territorial
    integrity." But in comments sure to enrage Yerevan, Aliyev added that
    Armenian leaders were conducting an "informational-propagandistic
    fight concerning the invented 'Armenian genocide' ... to prove their
    territorial claims and obtain political dividends."

    Armenian officials had no immediate official reaction to the
    Azerbaijani president's comments. A central pillar of Yerevan's foreign
    policy has been securing international recognition of Ottoman Turkey's
    mass killings of Armenians, beginning in 1915, as genocide. [For
    background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. President Kocharian
    previously cautioned that if Baku did not alter its negotiating
    position, the Armenian government would consider recognizing Karabakh's
    independence.

    In recent weeks, Aliyev and other officials have repeatedly threatened
    that Azerbaijan might resort to military action if Baku determined that
    Karabakh peace negotiations stood no chance of success. In comments
    made March 27 during a ceremony at the National Security Ministry,
    and broadcast by ANS television, Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan's
    rapid economic growth, driven by the development of the country's
    abundant energy reserves, was enabling the government to embark on
    a far-reaching military build-up. He added that the potential for
    Karabakh negotiations "has not yet been exhausted."

    "The other side [Armenia] must know that Azerbaijan is capable of
    securing its territorial integrity through war," Aliyev said.

    Ceasefire violations in recent weeks have resulted in the deaths of
    several Azerbaijani soldiers, Lider television reported. The ArmInfo
    news agency on March 28 quoted Armenian Deputy Defense Minister
    Artur Agabekyan as saying Azerbaijani forces were responsible for
    starting the firefights. "Our servicemen ... are in a state of combat
    readiness," Agabekyan said. "They will be prepared to repulse any
    attack, be it a local attack or a large-scale one."

    In addition to the build-up, Azerbaijan appears intent on mobilizing
    the Azeri diaspora to join in an information offensive to promote
    Baku's interests around the globe, including a Karabakh settlement that
    is favorable to Baku. Azerbaijani officials used the second Congress
    of World Azerbaijanis, held in mid March, to issue a call for rapid
    consolidation of diaspora groups in order to present a unified view
    of Azerbaijan and its policy aims to the outside world.

    "In today's world, a successful information policy is one of the
    major factors of the overall development and perfect strengthening of
    statehood," Nazim Ibrahimov, the head of Azerbaijan's State Committee
    on Relations with Azerbaijanis Living Abroad, said in a March 16
    speech to the congress' 600 delegates.

    According to state committee figures, approximately 50 million Azeris
    live in over 70 countries. The largest diaspora communities are
    found in Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Ukraine, Germany and the United
    States. Approximately 30 million Azerbaijanis also live in modern
    Iran. Roughly 8 million Azeris live in Azerbaijan.

    In his March 28 speech, Aliyev indicated that Baku would seek to use
    the Azeri diaspora to counter the "Armenian lobby abroad."

    Some delegates to the congress acknowledged that Azeri diaspora groups
    had not done a good job in promoting Baku's policies. "The Azerbaijani
    diaspora is badly organized because it is young," Azad Seidov, head of
    the Azeri national cultural center in the Russian city Surgut, told
    EurasiaNet. "We do not have a common plan of action and Azerbaijani
    communities in foreign countries are working on their own. We have
    to unite in order to recover our lands, cultural heritage and customs."

    Other representatives of diaspora groups confirmed that the
    consolidation effort was intended to influence the Karabakh peace
    process. Fahri Kerimli, chairman of board of the Romanian-Azerbaijani
    Cultural Assembly, said unification would assist in the "neutralization
    of efforts of Armenian diaspora around the world against Azerbaijan,
    Azerbaijanis and Turkey." A major aim of the intended information
    offensive, Kerimli added, was to recast Azerbaijan as the victim in
    the Karabakh conflict, dispelling the widely held view at present
    that Baku was the aggressor.

    Seidov and other delegates expressed interest in coordinating actions
    with representatives of Turkish diaspora groups. "State interests
    ... made it necessary for the Azerbaijani and Turkish diasporas to
    cooperate - to jointly operate to solve vital problems," Ibrahimov,
    the state committee chief, said.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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