Interview withAraz Alizade, co-chair of the Social-Democratic Party of Azerbaijan.
Q: As is known, this year Kazakhstan has become chairman in the OSCE. Is progress in the Karabakh settlement possible during Kazakhstan’s chairmanship?
A: OSCE will be able to settle the Nagorno Karabakh problem if a country chairing there is ready to fight in Azerbaijan’s place. The settlement of the Karabakh conflict is possible when Azerbaijani decides to return its lands by way of war.
Q: Can Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev play an active role in the Karabakh conflict settlement like he did once in the early 90’s when he visited this region with the then Russian President Boris Yeltsin?
A: Nazarbayev is a very wise and cautious politician. And unless stronger states want to assist Azerbaijan in this issue, Nazarbayev will not do anything. I would like to remind that within the framework of the peacekeeping mission Nazarbayev along with the then Russian President Yeltsin visited Baku, Ganja, Khankendi and Yerevan. At that time, there were negotiations in Zheleznovodsk and I attended those negotiations. We were presented a document that was almost an act on capitulation. The then president of Azerbaijan Mutalibov was in a hard state: to reject this document at once would mean to obtain the second enemy in the face of Nazarbayev. Then I suggested to Mutalibov to accept the document and offer them to persuade the representatives of opposition and the Azerbaijani delegation including me from the Social-Democratic Party and Tamerlan Garayev from the Popular Front that this document is useful. Mutalibov followed this advise saying: “I am ready to sign any document but we have a strong opposition, try to persuade it too”. Yeltsin who was expected by a delegation headed by Italian Prime Minister Julio Andreotti was in bewilderment. Then I suggested Yeltsin going to Moscow and then returning to continue the negotiations. Yeltsin thought for a minute and then said: “Oh, to hell with Andreotti!”. And he stayed to continue the negotiations which lasted until 1:00 at night. We have changed the document in our favor. In the beginning of the negotiations representatives of the Nagorno Karabakh separatist regime sat on the side of the Armenian delegation while later they sat on our side of the table. Nazarbayev was acting cautiously not interfering with anything. But in fact he has always supported us.
Q: By the way, Nazarbayev also spoke for the settlement of this conflict within the framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Do you think this position will change in period of Kazakhstan’s chairmanship in the OSCE?
A: I would like to repeat that Nazarbayev will follow a decision that will be made by the superpowers. As for my personal opinion, I think there is no alternative to war. This unhappy bandit Sargsyan can be understood. In the years of war he was one of the field commanders and terrorists. In fact, his place is in the prisoner’s box as a citizen of Azerbaijan who must be sentenced to life-long imprisonment under our laws. Imagine him as an Armenian president saying: “We should return Karabakh to Azerbaijan peacefully”. He will be cut into thousands of small Serzh Sargsyan’s for these words.
Q: The OSCE member-states have supported Nazarbayev’s initiative about holding the summit of this organization in Astana. Can this high level meeting promote progress in the Karabakh settlement?
A: There will be no progress unless everyone, including Armenia, feels that Azerbaijan may settle the issue by way of war. OSCE is just a consultative body while the issue of Karabakh will be settled within a very small circle. The paradox is that the United States, Russia and France where Armenian lobby is very strong are co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group. Thus, sink or swim!
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