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MINISTER - EXPRESSIONIST
http://artsakhtert.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=902:m inister-expressionist-&catid=3:all&Itemid=4
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 15:45
On the eve of a new year, as you know, it is accepted to sum up the
year past. This practice is as old as the world, and Foreign Minister
of Azerbaijan Elmar Mamedyarov did not either break the tradition. In
an interview to some news agencies, he presented the activity of
his office in 2012 and touched upon a series of issues of the foreign
policy agenda. Judging by the statements of the Minister on the results
of the past year, we can conclude that Azerbaijan definitely completed
the year of 2012 with solid achievements at the international arena.
They are strengthening of the positions of the Azerbaijani Republic
in the world and acquisition of new partners through its membership in
the UN Security Council, cooperation with international organizations
for establishing peace and security in Africa and the Middle East,
partnership with NATO for restoring and strengthening peace in
Afghanistan, etc.
In short, no matter where you cast a glance - there are only
achievements. This is the rainbow foreign-policy picture painted with
the expressive colors of the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister. According
to Mamedyarov, the Azerbaijani diplomacy suffered only one
failure - it is to resolve the Karabakh conflict (surely, in the
favorite-for-it direction), and as you can easily guess, just due to
the "unconstructive position of Armenia," which, in the minister's
mind, remains the major obstacle. And in the rest, as it is said in
a famous comic song, "all is well, all is well".
But, just a quick look at Mamedyarov's assessments of Azerbaijan's
foreign policy is enough to note a feature, which is important
for the "reporting year": his long interview lacked the "main
achievements" of 2012 - the extradition of the Budapest murderer,
Safarov. Especially that the repatriation and hasty pardon of the
killer sentenced to life imprisonment, which were the result of the
shameful Azerbaijani-Hungarian deal, were called a great diplomatic
victory of Azerbaijan. Why doesn't Mamedyarov include this "victory"
in the assets of the Azerbaijani diplomacy? Isn't it because
this, in fact, criminal act, exactly described by former Russian
mediator Vladimir Kazimirov as "a blunder of Ilham Aliyev's team",
will merely spoil the idyllic picture made by Mamedyarov's creative
imagination? Isn't it also because it was severely condemned by many
international structures and prominent politicians, including the
heads of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing states? The opinion was
unequivocal - the pardon and glorification of the killer of a sleeping
man are incompatible with the concept of human morality; besides,
these actions of the Azerbaijani authorities struck a serious blow
to the Karabakh settlement process.
Of course, the Baku regime understands that its "diplomatic success"
didn't only strike a blow to the peace process, but also seriously
stained and devalued the already questionable image of Azerbaijan at
the international arena, if one can generally speak of a political
image of Azerbaijan from the positive viewpoint (without counting the
petrodollars). And all the cheerful talks of the Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister on strengthening Azerbaijan's position at the international
arena are suitable only for misleading their own people and are
hardly able to wash away the shame of Budapest and to save the face
of official Baku. Rather, the insatiable desire to neutralize the
negative impression of the Budapest killer's history encourages the
Azerbaijani party to make false pacifist statements.
Realizing the expectations of the international community, constantly
calling for the peaceful settlement of the conflict and restoration
of confidence between the societies of the conflicting parties,
Mamedyarov represents his country as a supporter of peace and "a
guarantee of security, stability and progress in the region" (!!!).
Truly loose tongue! Mamedyarov noted even the possibility of "a real
program of the Nagorno-Karabakh region's development to be offered
by Azerbaijan". Then he went further, losing the sense of proportion
and reality, and uttered the following: "We perceive the Armenians,
living in Nagorno-Karabakh, as our citizens and we want them to live
in good conditions". We will not comment here and now on the thesis of
the Azerbaijani Minister on "our citizens", which has no legal basis.
We'll only note that this hypocritical tolerance is demonstrated rather
to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries and the international
community as a whole. It is worth noting that the international
Christian organization Open Doors has recently published a list of
50 countries where Christians are mostly persecuted.
Azerbaijan occupies the 38th place in the list. In short, we can
safely assume that the pacifist speech of Mamedyarov is aimed just
at one thing - to restore, at least in part, the lost reputation.
But, the whole problem of Azerbaijan is that the words of its
politicians run counter to their deeds. They do not wish to understand
that the restoration of their reputation is directly linked to
the restoration of confidence between the Armenian and Azerbaijani
people, for which, first of all, they should stop the policy of hatred
towards Armenians and should refuse of the threats of a new war. In
the meantime, the president of Azerbaijan, as it was on the New Year
eve, is delivering a refrain only on restoration of a different kind:
"We cannot allow the creation of the fictitious second Armenian state
on the historical (?!) lands of Azerbaijan. The time will come when
Azerbaijan will restore its territorial integrity by any means". In
other words, the president disavowed the pacifist statements of his
own minister- expressionist.
Leonid MARTIROSSIAN Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper
http://artsakhtert.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=902:m inister-expressionist-&catid=3:all&Itemid=4
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 15:45
On the eve of a new year, as you know, it is accepted to sum up the
year past. This practice is as old as the world, and Foreign Minister
of Azerbaijan Elmar Mamedyarov did not either break the tradition. In
an interview to some news agencies, he presented the activity of
his office in 2012 and touched upon a series of issues of the foreign
policy agenda. Judging by the statements of the Minister on the results
of the past year, we can conclude that Azerbaijan definitely completed
the year of 2012 with solid achievements at the international arena.
They are strengthening of the positions of the Azerbaijani Republic
in the world and acquisition of new partners through its membership in
the UN Security Council, cooperation with international organizations
for establishing peace and security in Africa and the Middle East,
partnership with NATO for restoring and strengthening peace in
Afghanistan, etc.
In short, no matter where you cast a glance - there are only
achievements. This is the rainbow foreign-policy picture painted with
the expressive colors of the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister. According
to Mamedyarov, the Azerbaijani diplomacy suffered only one
failure - it is to resolve the Karabakh conflict (surely, in the
favorite-for-it direction), and as you can easily guess, just due to
the "unconstructive position of Armenia," which, in the minister's
mind, remains the major obstacle. And in the rest, as it is said in
a famous comic song, "all is well, all is well".
But, just a quick look at Mamedyarov's assessments of Azerbaijan's
foreign policy is enough to note a feature, which is important
for the "reporting year": his long interview lacked the "main
achievements" of 2012 - the extradition of the Budapest murderer,
Safarov. Especially that the repatriation and hasty pardon of the
killer sentenced to life imprisonment, which were the result of the
shameful Azerbaijani-Hungarian deal, were called a great diplomatic
victory of Azerbaijan. Why doesn't Mamedyarov include this "victory"
in the assets of the Azerbaijani diplomacy? Isn't it because
this, in fact, criminal act, exactly described by former Russian
mediator Vladimir Kazimirov as "a blunder of Ilham Aliyev's team",
will merely spoil the idyllic picture made by Mamedyarov's creative
imagination? Isn't it also because it was severely condemned by many
international structures and prominent politicians, including the
heads of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing states? The opinion was
unequivocal - the pardon and glorification of the killer of a sleeping
man are incompatible with the concept of human morality; besides,
these actions of the Azerbaijani authorities struck a serious blow
to the Karabakh settlement process.
Of course, the Baku regime understands that its "diplomatic success"
didn't only strike a blow to the peace process, but also seriously
stained and devalued the already questionable image of Azerbaijan at
the international arena, if one can generally speak of a political
image of Azerbaijan from the positive viewpoint (without counting the
petrodollars). And all the cheerful talks of the Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister on strengthening Azerbaijan's position at the international
arena are suitable only for misleading their own people and are
hardly able to wash away the shame of Budapest and to save the face
of official Baku. Rather, the insatiable desire to neutralize the
negative impression of the Budapest killer's history encourages the
Azerbaijani party to make false pacifist statements.
Realizing the expectations of the international community, constantly
calling for the peaceful settlement of the conflict and restoration
of confidence between the societies of the conflicting parties,
Mamedyarov represents his country as a supporter of peace and "a
guarantee of security, stability and progress in the region" (!!!).
Truly loose tongue! Mamedyarov noted even the possibility of "a real
program of the Nagorno-Karabakh region's development to be offered
by Azerbaijan". Then he went further, losing the sense of proportion
and reality, and uttered the following: "We perceive the Armenians,
living in Nagorno-Karabakh, as our citizens and we want them to live
in good conditions". We will not comment here and now on the thesis of
the Azerbaijani Minister on "our citizens", which has no legal basis.
We'll only note that this hypocritical tolerance is demonstrated rather
to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries and the international
community as a whole. It is worth noting that the international
Christian organization Open Doors has recently published a list of
50 countries where Christians are mostly persecuted.
Azerbaijan occupies the 38th place in the list. In short, we can
safely assume that the pacifist speech of Mamedyarov is aimed just
at one thing - to restore, at least in part, the lost reputation.
But, the whole problem of Azerbaijan is that the words of its
politicians run counter to their deeds. They do not wish to understand
that the restoration of their reputation is directly linked to
the restoration of confidence between the Armenian and Azerbaijani
people, for which, first of all, they should stop the policy of hatred
towards Armenians and should refuse of the threats of a new war. In
the meantime, the president of Azerbaijan, as it was on the New Year
eve, is delivering a refrain only on restoration of a different kind:
"We cannot allow the creation of the fictitious second Armenian state
on the historical (?!) lands of Azerbaijan. The time will come when
Azerbaijan will restore its territorial integrity by any means". In
other words, the president disavowed the pacifist statements of his
own minister- expressionist.
Leonid MARTIROSSIAN Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper