Interviews Eldaniz Guliyev, head of the Azerbaijani Intellectuals Movement.
Q: What role does the intelligentsia play in the Karabakh conflict settlement?
A: It can hardly be overestimated. I am sure that hatred and blind rage can only do harm. In fact, the path the country’s leadership is following in the negotiations on Karabakh is right. This is what is decided at the level of presidents and countries, but it's not known what is decided below. How are the two peoples going to settle this problem and how are they going to co-exist in future as neighbours? This is what we should be thinking about. Do the people want to conclude an agreement with the Armenians? The settlement of the Karabakh conflict is impossible without establishing contacts, without mutual visits of intellectuals and elders, without relations between the two peoples.
We should all try to answer the question of how we see the future of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, between our peoples. When someone has bad neighbours, they sell their flat and move somewhere else. But we cannot move our country and our land to get away from the Armenians. This is our land, but these are also our neighbors, therefore, we should search for ways to live together.
Moreover, nowhere in the world is there an example of eternal enmity.
Q: What do you think of the possibility of the co-existence of Azerbaijanis and Armenians?
A: Karabakh is a tragedy and time does not heal it. Both Azerbaijanis and Armenians understand that the status quo is unstable and cannot last for ever. Nothing is impossible and there shouldn't be any nuances in this issue. Everything has gone so deep now that today most people are disgusted at the thought of the co-existence of Azerbaijanis and Armenians. I think this must be rooted out.
Meanwhile, we should not give up our national principles. The Armenians must first return the occupied districts around Nagorno-Karabakh, the refugees should return home and then the issue will be settled through international mediators that will have the trust of both Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Unfortunately, Armenia does not respect the norms of international law, putting the right of people to self-determination above territorial integrity. Anyway, the Armenian people had self-determination a long time ago. They already have one Armenia, and we will not let them create a second one on Azerbaijani land! Armenians have long been promised normal autonomy within Azerbaijan. They should just give up absurd ideas and myths, the image of the Turkish enemy.
I am sure that ordinary people in Armenia understand this, but I cannot say the same for the Armenian leadership. But we have the right to restore our territorial integrity by war in line with the norms of international law. Certainly, this is an extreme measure and it would be better if things do not go that far.
Q: Do you think the visits of Azerbaijani intellectuals to Nagorno-Karabakh bring the conflict solution closer?
A: No problem can be settled only from above. Visits to Nagorno-Karabakh should be welcomed, but they cannot be held in the form we organize them. I think ordinary people should also go to Nagorno-Karabakh as well as intellectuals.
Q: Do you think the Azerbaijani people and refugees forget Karabakh and their occupied districts?
A: Today Azerbaijan has an open wound which hurts. Since most refugees live in Baku and Absheron, which is so overcrowded that it will soon sink under the water, Karabakh has become a legend, an elegy, a fairy tale for them.
But I hope that the sense of homeland cannot disappear in 20 years. The bad parents among the refugees are those who have not developed a love of their native Azerbaijani land in their children! We are Azerbaijanis, we have lived on these lands for centuries and whoever has forgotten it in 20 years is worthless! We can regulate ourselves and I believe that Azerbaijanis will soon return to their homeland. I believe that as a people we are capable of many things.
Q: Including intellectuals, of course?
A: Intellectuals are the conscience of the people, their soul and morals, their cultural and spiritual values. Thank God, we have a wise, moral and educated people who love their country. The first task of intellectuals is to create and define the system of national values of the country and people, because intellectuals are the conscience of the people. A real intellectual is a person who lives with the interests of their country, with its sorrows, and does not turn a blind eye to its problems. If a word spoken at the right time does at least one man a favour, and saves him from going wrong and shows him the right way, this is already a great thing.
News.Az
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