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Peace process unpredictable under new Azeri leader, says Karabakh FM

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  • Peace process unpredictable under new Azeri leader, says Karabakh FM

    Peace process unpredictable under new Azeri leader, says Karabakh minister

    Azg, Yerevan
    31 Mar 04

    No significant progress has been made in the Karabakh talks since
    Ilham Aliyev became Azerbaijani president, the foreign minister of the
    self-declared Nagornyy Karabakh Republic (NKR) has said. Ashot Gulyan
    told Armenian newspaper Azg that remarks by Aliyev, such as that the
    talks should start from zero, made the negotiating process less
    predictable. He said that Ilham Aliyev had chosen to concentrate on
    domestic issues during his first few months in power. The following is
    the text of Tatul Akopyan's interview with Gulyan in Azg on 31 March,
    headlined "Factor of unpredictability has grown in negotiating
    process"; subheadings inserted editorially:

    Baku refused to take in part in the meeting between the Armenian and
    Azerbaijani foreign ministers, with the participation of the OSCE
    Minsk Group co-chairmen, due to have taken place in Prague on 29
    March. President Ilham Aliyev criticized the OSCE Minsk Group once
    again and said that the mediators has "achieved nothing positive in 12
    years". The Azerbaijani authorities are refusing to continue the
    negotiating process on Karabakh and continuing to make bellicose
    statements and threatening to settle the Karabakh issue by war.

    What do the authorities of Nagornyy Karabakh [NKR] think of this? The
    NKR foreign minister, Ashot Gulyan, answered this and other questions.

    Negotiating process more unpredictable under Ilham Aliyev

    [Correspondent] Mr Gulyan, has anything changed in the Karabakh
    negotiations since Ilham Aliyev's accession to power?

    [Ashot Gulyan] There is no progress. The negotiating process has
    become less predictable. The first several months of Ilham Aliyev's
    presidency show that there is no significant progress and the future
    of the negotiating process is very unclear. Azerbaijan's refusal to
    take part in the Prague meeting shows that it has nothing to say. It
    seems that Baku decided to put the Karabakh issue on the back burner,
    accompanied by unclear statements. I am talking about bellicose
    statements, references to zero levels and displeasure with the Minsk
    Group's work. In comparison with Heydar Aliyev's tenure, the
    negotiating process has become more unpredictable.

    [Correspondent] Ilham Aliyev recently said that in 12 years the OSCE
    Minsk Group did not achieve any progress in the negotiating
    process. What is Stepanakert's position? Was there any progress in the
    negotiating process?

    [Gulyan] The OSCE Minsk Group is an international organization that
    has dealt with the Karabakh issue really professionally and it is
    illogical to assess its activity for these 12 years as in vain. But I
    would like to draw your attention to another problem. Ilham Aliyev
    says in his statements that all the suggestions of the Minsk Group,
    for a stage-by-stage or package solution, have become zero. That is,
    what seemed acceptable for the former authorities of Azerbaijan is not
    acceptable for today's. This means that Azerbaijan is not approaching
    the international mission seriously. I think all this has the aim of
    hiding Azerbaijan's inaction.

    Ilham Aliyev concentrating on domestic issues

    [Correspondent] Mr Gulyan, a view is being circulated in the Armenian
    press and political circles that the essence of the Karabakh issue has
    been misrepresented. How did the Karabakh party participate in the
    negotiating process in recent years?

    [Gulyan] If we take the last five or six years, we can say there was
    no active negotiating process, and the Karabakh party participated as
    much as possible. In the last five or six years the OSCE Minsk Group
    co-chairmen visited Stepanakert in the framework of their visits to
    the region and met the NKR authorities. During all those meetings the
    mediators noted that, irrespective of the negotiations being stepped
    up, Karabakh continues to remain a negotiating party. That is,
    Karabakh is a negotiating party and nobody denies that except
    Azerbaijan.

    If we take the essence of the negotiating process into account, which
    was at the level of meetings of the Armenian and Azerbaijani
    presidents for several years, and if we compare them with the
    negotiations before 1996, we may say that these meetings were directed
    more to taking the process out of deadlock.

    Ilham Aliyev's statements show that today the Karabakh issue is not so
    urgent for Azerbaijan. I have the impression that for the new
    president of Azerbaijan the first stage of his presidency will be the
    settlement of domestic problems. In this way he is trying to avoid
    those domestic political upheavals, which may appear at different
    levels of discussion of the Karabakh issue.

    Europe taking more interest in Karabakh settlement

    [Correspondent] Recently Europe has shown more interest in a Karabakh
    settlement. How can you comment on this?

    [Gulyan] This may be explained, first of all, by the fact that the
    countries of the region have turned towards Europe and today their
    involvement in European structures means feedback. The same European
    structures (the European Union and Council of Europe) in the framework
    of their interests are trying to clarify, by means of monitoring or
    supervising the situation in the region, to what extent the
    obligations are being carried out in the countries of the region.
    There is an evident reality that the European structures have started
    to be also interested in the unsettled problems or conflict situations
    of the region. Here there is a big gap which seems not to be
    corrected by the Council of Europe and European Union with the help of
    necessary work. European structures, except the OSCE Minsk Group, do
    not know the problem of the conflict, they do not know the pre-history
    of the conflict and today's positions of the parties to the
    conflict. An impression has been created that Azerbaijan is trying to
    make use of the situation and to make accusations from the European
    rostrum. Our objective is to give, as much as possible, independent
    information to the European structures, to make them understand the
    truth about the Karabakh conflict. Naturally, the NKR does not have
    such key levers and we are expecting Armenia's support.
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