The head of the National Assembly external affairs commission, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), comments on the latest subversive actions.
“In reality, I am under the impression that the US has given Azerbaijan a very dangerous role – the role of a provoker in the region. The hints in different information sources that the US is going to give Azerbaijan supermodern training equipment, in order that the Azerbaijani army has the ability to locate its potential enemies, which tells about the prospect of strategic cooperation, testify to that,” Vahram Atanesyan, the head of the NKR National Assembly external affairs commission said during a conversation with Aravot, talking about the subversive actions carried out by Azerbaijan in recent days, which had preceded and succeeded the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the region. Our interlocutor doesn’t think that the fact that Ms. Clinton stated in Baku that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict couldn’t be settled militarily is an adequate response to the subversive actions of Azerbaijan, “It was just a formal statement, because if the statements are not backed by deeds, moves, I am inclined to think that it was just a diplomatic move, which the US Secretary of State could not help but make.” As for Azerbaijan, according to Vahram Atanesyan, the ruling regime in Azerbaijan gives the international community to understand in that way, by those actions, that they, as a country, as a state, are not ready for peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and to ensure peace and stability in the region and for all peoples of the region.
In response to a question what the US aimed at by giving Azerbaijan, in his words, “the role of instability provoker,” the NKR National Assembly member noted, “I don’t say that the aim of all this is to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in favor of Azerbaijan. I think that the US aims at creating a pretext for war, in order to get into the contact line between the Karabakh and Azerbaijani forces, to move in a pincer movement and surround the Islamic Republic of Iran from the north. Actually, there are large-scale preparations for war made by the US, Israel and Turkey on the northern borders of Iran and the subversive actions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and on the contact line between Karabakh and Azerbaijan are manifestations of those preparations.” Referring to the spread information that latest subversive actions of Azerbaijan were carried out with the participation of Turkish and Israeli military instructors, our interlocutor thinks it is very probable, since on the days of subversive actions, the commander of Turkey’s land forces was in Baku and there was a very important phrase in the official statement made after negotiations between him and Azerbaijan’s defense minister, according to which the sides discussed regional developments and the obstacles, which the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict puts, “This is an attempt to make the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict be considered at the international level in the context of the West’s attitude and probable actions toward Iran.”
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Are the current processes a direct pressure on Armenia, particularly given the fact that the meeting between Elmar Mamedyarov and Eduard Nalbandyan is planned in the short run and as the US Secretary of State stated, new offers will be made to the sides during that meeting? Vahram Atanesyan classifies the meeting between the foreign
ministers as a failed meeting from the beginning, since, “Ms. Clinton had just finished her speech, when not unknown Sabina Freizer, the director of the Europe projects of the International Crisis Group (ICG), made comments at the request of Turan agency. I think that it is not a secret for either analysts, or journalists that the ICG works at the behest of well-known organizations.” Let us remind that Sabine Freizer said that returning one or two regions to Azerbaijan might make it possible to continue peace negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Our interlocutor assumes from all this that the US cannot make unilateral offers at the meeting of the foreign ministers. They may be on behalf of the co-chair countries. It may be not so rude, as Sabine Freizer presented it, but our interlocutor assumes that an offer will be made to the sides, which will be unacceptable for the Armenian sides, since Sabine Freizer has already created a negative background for all that.
Anyway, the results of the regional aspirations of the US, our interlocutor is convinced, will be harmful first of all for Azerbaijan, since a player of such a weight class can never aspire after reaching its direct goal, in this case, the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in its favor, in the geostrategic games.
NELLY GRIGORYAN
