Recently, presses touched upon the announcement made by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamediarov, when he said that he was content with the role that Russia is playing in the negotiation process of the Karabagh conflict settlement.
According to Edward Aghabekyan, Russia has started to play a constructive role in the Karabagh conflict settlement. Most of Armenia’s substructures are under the control of Russian companies. With this in mind, what initiatives will Russia take? To get the answers to this and other questions, I interviewed leader of the “Movement ‘88” party Edward Aghabekyan.
He mentioned that the hand-over of Armenian substructures to the Russian companies had nothing to do with Russia taking initiatives.
“I think that it was wrong to hand-over the substructures to Russia because that doesn’t determine if the countries are allies or not. I think that there is a lack of legitimacy in Armenia and that brings to the weakening of positions. It doesn’t matter if Armenia is strong or weak, big or small. If we want other countries to look at us for who we are, we must have a state based on social justice. As for Mamediarov’s announcement, I tie that with the meeting in Prague after which, it appears that the geopolitical situation has changed due to the Iranian conflict and the conflicts in the Southern Caucasus, the upcoming 2007-2008 elections, and the announcement made by “Freedom House”, which in contrast to Turkey and Azerbaijan, there is no feedback from Armenia. Interests are changing, but they’re hurting us. I’m not that optimistic.”
Leader of the Artsakh Democratic Party and head of the committee on foreign relations of the Karabagh National Assembly Vahram Atanesyan had this to say:
“Mamediarov announces what he thinks, or perhaps he is inclined to see some nuances in the Karabagh conflict settlement negotiation process. That’s his problem. It’s illogical that the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister is blaming Moscow for not playing a constructive role before and it appears that the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hasn’t responded to this yet. In general, Azerbaijan has always wanted to see Russia or the West will “serve” its “territorial integrity and the right to control Nagorno Karabagh” “on a platter”. This goes to show that Azerbaijan not only doesn’t have its own way of settling the conflict, but also the will or the resource, which is positive for that country.” V. Atanesyan is of the opinion that Mamediarov knows very well that none of the intermediary countries and others have the mandate to obligate the sides to go along with their decisions. “They serve to create good conditions for the negotiations, integrate the opinions of the conflicting sides and finally, take on the responsibility of guaranteeing the agreements. In this context, Mamediarov’s imagination just won’t cut it. The integration of the roles of Russia and Azerbaijan on the Iranian issue was a gesture to Moscow and nothing more, but I think that Baku will stay loyal to the end, which apparently the Russians know about. As for Armenian-Russian relations, the two are simply allies and I don’t think that Russia will take any initiatives for the Karabagh conflict that will put the future strategic ties between Moscow and Yerevan in jeopardy,” said Mr. Atanesyan