The meeting between Armenian president Robert Kocharyan and Azeri
president Ilham Aliyev was supposed to take place yesterday in the
framework of the CIS summit in Astania. According to facts, chairman of
the Minsk’s European Security and Cooperation Organization(ESCO) was
also supposed to participate in the meeting. However, that information
may change due to the fact that president of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin may also take part in the negotiations. Evaluations
about the meeting will be known after the return of all three
presidents. In contrast to the meeting in the past, this one may change
the form of negotiations regarding the Karabagh peace settlement. In
any case, there are new conditions.
The announcements made in Astania yesterday make it seem as if
Azerbaijan is the country most interested in the meeting. Last week
president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev announced that this meeting may
play a major role in settling the Karabagh conflict. After the meeting
between foreign ministers from Armenia and Azerbaijan in Praha, foreign
minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mamedyarov had claimed that he would set
new grounds for the Karabagh peace settlement demanding that the
liberated lands be returned to Azerbaijan and that the refugees return
to their homes. Only after this could the situation of Nagorno Karabagh
be discussed. Of course, Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs refuted
the above mentioned announcements. Meanwhile, Aliev’s announcement is a
more generalized version of the one by Mamedyarov.
Basically, it is clear that Azerbaijan is mainly concerned about the
return of the liberated lands. However, can Armenia avoid returning the
lands? Robert Kocharyan gave the answer to this question during his
speech at the European Union convention. Kocharyan’s speech left a
great impression on both Armenian authorities and the opposition. The
opposition admired his presence there, how he “fought against” the
Azerbaijanis and how he gave a brief summary of the history of
Azerbaijan. In his speech, Kocharyan set the grounds for the return of
the liberated lands. The president said the following regarding
Azerbaijan’s totalitarian rule over the lands:
“After the collapse of the Soviet Union, two independent states-the
Republic of Nagorno Karabagh and the Republic of Azerbaijan- formed in
the former Soviet Azerbaijan. The rights for each republic are the
same. Azerbaijan’s totalitarian rule over the land has nothing to do
with the Republic of Nagorno Karabagh. We are ready to discuss the
Karabagh peace settlement through legal proceedings.” Let’s not forget
that the Republic of Nagorno Karabagh declared its independence in 1991
and included the land belonging to the former Azerbaijan republic of
the Soviet Union where there were no liberated lands. So, if these are
the legal proceedings with which the Republic of Armenia plans on
carrying out to solve the peace settlement, then the passage through
Lachin must also be included. Without the passage through Lachin, the
future discussions regarding the Karabagh peace settlement seem
meaningless due to the fact that Karabagh will become a part of
Azerbaijan if there is no contact between Armenia and Karabagh. We are
also dealing with the exchange of Meghri for the Lachin passage.
So, Robert Kocharyan has formulated Armenia’s decision regarding the
liberated lands, and it would be no surprise if the chairmen of the
Minsk European Security and Cooperation Organization were to make the
same suggestions. Moreover, during the Strasburg convention, Kocharyan
promised that Armenia would take full responsibility in solving the
Karabagh peace settlement by eliminating any chance of Karabagh’s
involvement-something which was requested by former Armenian president
Levon Ter-Petrosyan.
All in all, thanks to the “manly diplomacy” of Robert Kocharyan,
Armenia is finally set on firm grounds in solving the peace settlement.