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State Dept.: Separatists control Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia’s support

26 April 2013 09:31 (UTC+04:00)
State Dept.: Separatists control Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia’s support

By Sara Rajabova

Armenia's policy of aggression against Azerbaijan is causing concern and drawing condemnation from superpowers.

Thus, recently the U.S. State Department stated in its report on human rights practices for 2012 that separatists, with Armenia's support, continue to control most of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other Azerbaijani territories.

The report also said the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh remained the subject of international mediation by the OSCE Minsk Group, which is co-chaired by Russia, France, and the United States.

Director of the Institute of Political Studies of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of Azerbaijan, political expert Elman Nasirov said there are several points related to Armenia in the State Department's report that are of great interest to Azerbaijan.

"Firstly, this report specifically cites the state of Armenia and its support for the separatist regime. This is a very important point for us, because we are witnessing that in many cases Armenia is left outside [the negotiation process], as if the separatist regime, not Armenia, mainly takes part in the peace process.

"None of the four UN Security Council resolutions [calling for Armenia's withdrawal from the occupied Azerbaijani territory], cites Armenia. This report, however, does cite it, which is an extremely important issue," Nasirov said.

Another point in the report is confirmation of the fact about the separatist regime's occupying Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions of Azerbaijan with Armenia's support, he said.

"This is also a very important point, because in most cases the Armenian side does not deny the seven adjacent regions' belonging to Azerbaijan, saying that they keep them as a security zone, but argues that Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to them. But the fact that the occupation of both Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding regions was reflected in the State Department report is one of the very important points."

According to the expert, another important point in the report is the reference to widespread corruption in Armenia, serious problems with democracy and the violations of law revealed during the parliamentary election held in Armenia last May.

In this case, the analyst said, Baku gains additional arguments in the negotiations with international organizations, namely, the OSCE and its Minsk Group. It can draw special attention to this fact during the discussions, saying that "massive fraud occurred, there are serious problems with democracy and human rights during elections, corruption and bribery is rife, so, how can we engage in talks on Nagorno-Karabakh with such a regime, solve the problem, negotiate normally?"

Nasirov said another point is that the United States' stating its position as a Minsk Group co-chair and sharply criticizing Armenia in the mentioned report shows that this country has no intention to seemingly act as an outside observer of the conflict settlement process as it did previously.

"It is not ruled out that Washington will step up its activity on the issue [the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution]. And in this case, one of the tasks facing the Azerbaijani diplomacy should be to convey to the U.S that Armenia has deliberately choosen the tactic of backing down from peace talks. Whereas previously Armenia followed the policy of prolongation of the conflict, now it has chosen the tactic of refusing to hold talks and is trying by all means to prevent them from taking place," Nasirov said.

The expert said that the goal pursued by Yerevan is to replace itself in peace talks with the separatist regime - the self-proclaimed "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic", which would negotiate as a full-fledged party.

"Armenia thus tries to legitimize the separatist regime and present it as a subject of international law. Certain steps have already been taken in this regard. Thus, in 2012 the legislative bodies of Rhode Island and Massachusetts states of the U.S. essentially passed a decision on the recognition of the self-proclaimed "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" and sent that decision to the federal government. New South Wales State of Australia has made a similar decision; also, a friendship group with the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" in the Lithuanian parliament has been set up. All this once again proves that Armenia has chosen the tactic of achieving recognition of the separatist regime by the international community. So, the mentioned report shows that the U.S. indeed intends to play an active role in the peace process. This being said, taking into account the points I made, it is necessary to convey to the U.S. that it should direct its activity in this direction," Nasirov said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs representing the United States, Russia and France have been largely fruitless so far.

The negotiations are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles, also known as Basic Principles. The document envisions a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the right of all internally displaced persons to return home.

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