A senior Azerbaijani official has mentioned the possibility of military action in the country’s dispute with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, saying Armenia’s stance has brought efforts for a negotiated settlement to a deadlock.
Ziyafat Asgarov, the deputy speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament, told reporters on Friday that Azerbaijan reserves the right to liberate its occupied territories. When asked whether war was on the agenda, Asgarov said, “You will see it very soon.”
He said war as an option has always been on the agenda and that “it is an agenda item today, too.” He also said everyone should be ready for the war, underlining that all of Azerbaijan’s economy, particularly the industrial sector, should be “put on military rails.”
“International law has already proven its inability in effecting a settlement of the conflict. … We maintain our right to liberate our territories from occupation. Azerbaijan has many options to defend its rights, and you will see this in upcoming months. We have no time to sit and talk to [Armenian President Serzh] Sarksyan,” the deputy speaker said, as reported by news agencies on Friday. The Armenian parliament, as decided earlier, was set to vote to recognize the self-declared, unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh’s independence on Thursday, but major parties avoided voting on the bill. Some political factions in Armenia say recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh will make Azerbaijan more aggressive and might result in a resumption of war. But more radical, nationalist parties call for recognition. Sarksyan vowed in Astana this week during the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) summit that Armenia might mull recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh if Azerbaijan uses force against the self-declared entity.
Asgarov said there is no prospect for Nagorno-Karabakh being recognized by Armenia, because he said Armenia is also aware that recognition of the façade of authority in occupied territories will once more legally prove that Armenia is occupying territory. “Armenia must understand there is no prospect in this,” he asserted. Azerbaijan and Armenia, thanks to Russian mediation, struck a vulnerable cease-fire deal in Bishkek in 1994 to halt military operations, but frequent skirmishes along the border have become usual.
Asgarov also expressed dismay over the fact that the OSCE Minsk group, a mediating group between the warring sides co-chaired by France, Russia and the US, is not exerting pressure on Armenia. “Well, yes, they are mostly saying they are anxious that the process is getting delayed. But it is interesting, who is preventing them from pressing [Armenia]? They express their anxiety, but there are no results,” he stressed.
The OSCE Minsk group has been mediating the peace talks for over 15 years but these talks have yet to yield any results. Azerbaijan adopted a $3.12 billion military budget on Oct. 22, which is the largest military budget in the region and slightly bigger than the entire state budget of Armenia. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev predicted several years ago that his aim was that his country’s military budget would outstrip Armenia’s entire state budget. But it was not clear if he was implying that Azerbaijan would resume war in the event this happens. Azerbaijan repeatedly threatens to resume war, as it says this is its legitimate international right, if peace talks fail.
The United Nations Security Council adopted four consecutive resolutions in the early 1990s when fierce fighting was at its peak in Nagorno-Karabakh, rebuking Armenia and calling on the state to withdraw from the occupied territories. None of the resolutions has yet been implemented. Nearly 30,000 people have been killed on both sides during the conflict.
LAMIYA ADILGIZI
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