Azerbaijan is getting ready to penalize the foreign organizations for
working with Nagorno Karabagh. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of
Azerbaijan Araz Azimov has announced that they have prepared the “black
list”. According to him, the companies enlisted will be forbidden to do
business in Nagorno Karabagh. Aside from that, the government of
Azerbaijan requires punishing them. “Azerbaijan can not lose sight of
of the illegal use of the natural resources of the seized lands, as
well as the whole politics of resettlement”, said Azimov. Deputy of the
“Yeni Azerbaijan” party Mubariz Ghurbanli believes that the companies
working in the seized lands must be forbidden to work in all regions of
Azerbaijan.
Other deputies agree with Ghurbanli and believe that there can no be
investment or business done in Azerbaijan since until now there has
been no solution to the Karabagh peace settlement. The foreign
companies who sign contracts with the governments of Armenia and
Karabagh in order to use the mineral wealth of the Azeri territories
not only go against international legal norms, but also harm the Azeri
economy. The deputies believe that that should be a put up for
discussion in the court instances and there needs to be a demand for
compensation for the damage caused.
The Azeri media also defends this initiative and states that the
government has finally come to its senses. Independent politician Metin
Yasharoghlu thinks that this issue must be discussed now because the
Azeri government needs to take the necessary steps for its people. The
government has started discussion about this after President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev emphasized the necessity of penalizing foreign
companies during the 59th session of the UN. Director of the Strategic
Research Center for International Terrorism and Corruption Rovshan
Novruzoghlu has presented the list of 33 companies who have
representations in Karabagh and the seized lands. They are primarily
different Western organizations and funds. There are also Russian
companies enlisted.
But it is not possible to penalize them now because currently Russia
has close economic ties with Karabagh in the framework of Armenia. The
presence of Russia can also be seen by the investments and activities
of the Armenians who are citizens of the Russian Federation. During an
interview given to “Regnum”, the President of the National Assembly of
Nagorno Karabagh Oleg Yesayan said that there have been a total of
$30,000,000 million dollars of investments made in Karabagh over the
past few years and that only 2% of that is the Russian capital. He only
remembered the “Iceberg” company out of tens of joint businesses. The
owner of that company is the President of the Armenian community in
Russia Ara Abrahamyan.
It is well known that one of the share-holders of the “ArtsakhAlco” and
“ArtsakhGold” large businesses is citizen of Russia Georgi Ohanyan.
Besides that, businessman from Moscow Valeri Mejlumyan has built a
concentrating mill in Drmbon which helps Karabagh’s economy a lot.
Rovshan Novruzoghlu thinks that the Russian banks are working actively
in Karabagh in the framework of Armenia’s branches. The Russian capital
is also present in the field of tourism in Karabagh. According to Azeri
politician Azer Rashidoghlu, Baku will not try to go against the
Russian economy in Karabagh. The thing is that the only companies that
supply Armenia with gas are the Russian “Gaspromn” and “Itera”
companies. Karabagh also receives gas from Armenia. It would not be
right to destroy the relationship between “Gasprom” and “Iteria”
because they are the ones who provide 50% of Azerbaijan’s gas.