Azerbaijani analyst dismisses Armenian FM's statement
By Sara Rajabova
A document entitled 'six principles' does not and has never existed, an Azerbaijani political analyst has told Trend news agency while commenting on Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian's recent remarks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The director of the Center for Political Innovations and Technologies, Mubariz Ahmadoglu, only made clear that the updated Madrid principles -- a peace outline proposed by the mediating OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs which makes up the basis of the ongoing peace talks -- have an integral part which includes six clauses.
Recently, during his visit to France, the Armenian foreign minister expressed Armenia's readiness to sign the six basic principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict proposed by the Minsk Group "if the co-chairs convince Azerbaijan to do the same."
According to the analyst, Nalbandian's statement made in Paris was apparently the result of pressure on Yerevan exerted by France on the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The updated Madrid principles, released in July 2009 on the website of the US president in the form of a joint statement of the presidents of the three co-chair countries, consist of a preamble, six articles and a summary, Ahmadoglu noted.
"The essence of this document is that part of the occupied Azerbaijani territories should be freed immediately and Nagorno-Karabakh will be gradually returned to Azerbaijan. Now, in order not to look guilty in the eyes of Armenians, Nalbandian changed the name of the updated Madrid principles to 'Six Principles'," Ahmadoglu said.
Two purposes could be behind Nalbandian's statement, the analyst believes.
"First of all, the European Union is forcing Armenia to sign the updated Madrid principles. Armenia is having to reckon with the EU. If Armenia signs the updated Madrid principles, the EU will hold a donor conference which is expected to collect aid for Armenia in the amount of 1.5 billion euros. Second, by renaming the updated Madrid principles into 'Six Principles', Nalbandian wants to upset Azerbaijan to make the latter refuse to sign the document. Eventually Armenia would convince the EU that it is Azerbaijan, not Armenia, which does not want to sign the updated Madrid principles," Ahmadoglu added.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, 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 Armenia has not followed them to this day.
Russia, France and the U.S. - co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - have long been working to broker a solution of the conflict, but their efforts have been largely fruitless so far.
The Madrid Principles envision 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.