Monday, October 19 2020 19:17

ArmInfo.Russia has always played an important role in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev stated this in an  interview with TASS.

Thus, clarifying whether he is ready to come to Moscow to meet with  his counterpart with the mediation of the Russian Federation, Aliyev  said that he had been to Moscow many times. However, the Azerbaijani  leader continued, in this case he did not receive such an invitation.  He also stated that many times Russian President Vladimir Putin  personally and Dmitry Medvedev before him held trilateral meetings  between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"Russia has always played an important role in the settlement of the  conflict, I spoke about this. There are objective reasons for this -  both historical and geographical. As well as the reasons that Russia  has been actively operating in our region for many decades and there  is a high level of interaction. Therefore, we are ready for any  contacts, "Aliyev said, assuring that when the proposal to organize a  meeting of foreign ministers was received, Baku immediately agreed.

"We said:" Yes, we are ready. "And I said when I was talking with the  President of Russia that I was sending the Minister. By the way, the  Foreign Minister [of Azerbaijan] was at that time in Geneva,  negotiating with the Minsk Group. During the high degree of  escalation, our minister was in Geneva, and the Armenian minister  never got there, although he should have been there too, "Aliyev  said.

He also assured that Azerbaijan is committed to the obligations that  they assume in the framework of contacts with their partners. "Both  from the very beginning, and in the process of negotiations to  resolve the conflict, we have always relied on international law and  our commitment to resolving the conflict peacefully. We tried to  fulfill the obligations that Azerbaijan assumed after the talks in  Moscow," the Azerbaijani president said, as usual blaming the  Armenian side for non-observance of the truce, and keeping silent  about the unleashed aggression against Artsakh, and the breakdown of  two truces.

According to him, the fact that the situation is still in a hot phase  is not Azerbaijan's fault. "I have repeatedly said that Azerbaijan is  committed to the principles of the settlement, which were developed  by the long-term negotiation process. We are ready to suspend  military actions even tomorrow if Armenia behaves" constructively "on  the negotiating track. But the statements we hear from Yerevan  completely contradict the basic principles that were developed by the  OSCE Minsk Group, "the head of Azerbaijan said, declaring his  readiness to suspend hostilities again and resolve the issue at the  negotiating table. When asked whether Azerbaijan is ready for a  meeting of the military, as Russia proposes to agree on verification  mechanisms, Aliyev noted that in this case, the political will of the  leaderships of Armenia and Azerbaijan is paramount, and the  Azerbaijani side has such a will.  "Not wishing to continue bloodshed  and wanting to save people's lives, we are ready to resolve this  issue politically. As for contacts between the military, these points  are clearly defined in the basic principles.  And we are committed to  the basic principles that I have already mentioned. Therefore, the  question that you have just asked is in the basic principles at the  end of the agreement. Then, when all the issues related to  de-occupation were settled, then the presence of foreign peacekeeping  forces was supposed. But since the main issues requiring settlement  were not agreed, the parties did not approach this issue. Therefore,  there was no clear understanding of who these forces would consist  of, which international structures, which countries would be  represented there. All this was not discussed.

But one thing was clear that the composition of the peacekeeping  forces should be agreed upon by Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as  the location of these forces. This has not been defined either.   Therefore, today, when there is no line of contact, when the status  quo has been violated and we have violated it, and we did this within  the framework of repeated statements by the heads of state of Russia,  the United States and France that the status quo is unacceptable. We  heard these statements, but did not see their implementation.  Therefore, we implemented it ourselves. That is, there is no status  quo, no line of contact. And how can military observers technically  be deployed, and where can they be deployed? Every day the situation  on the battlefield changes. And in such a situation, will some  foreign experts come there?  And where will they stand? On some  mountains, valleys, bridges? All this requires a lot of detailed  study.  This is a great risk for those who deem it necessary to send  their military contingent there. And all this must be agreed -  composition, mandate, terms, goals. And of course, all this should be  within the framework of the basic principles, which, as I said, are  accepted by us, and rejected by the Armenian side, "Aliyev said.

When asked whether Azerbaijan would agree to the introduction of  Russian military observers into the region to ensure a truce and  security guarantees, and if not Russian, then what other countries  could participate in such a mission, Aliyev expressed confidence that  this issue should be agreed within the framework of the OSCE Minsk  Group co-chairmanship between Russia, France and the United States.

"After it is agreed upon, it should be presented to the parties. That  is, it was all assumed in the basic principles. Because we will not  determine who will be - peacekeepers or, as they now want to call  them, observers. This will be a proposal with the co-chairs of the  OSCE Minsk Group. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia, for their part, can  either veto this or that country, or agree. Therefore, I do not think  that unilaterally this would correspond to the spirit of cooperation  between the three co-chair countries - to determine any military  contingent. And most importantly - where? That is the question.

The point is not whether Azerbaijan agrees or disagrees. We need to  know the mandate, who is the guarantor, functions, location,  activity. Are they going to stand on the mountains or in an open  field and watch who shoots where? First of all, it is dangerous.  Secondly, in the case, say, as it is presented to us, in order to  observe who broke the truce: even if it will be determined who broke  the truce,- what's next? What, these people will be held accountable?  Will there be any criminal cases? Therefore, it is necessary, first  of all, to determine the procedure for the implementation of the  basic principles, "the head of Azerbaijan said, while he stressed  that only after the" de-occupation ", it will be possible to discuss  the issue of observers.

He once again assured that there is no factual data on the transfer  of mercenaries from the Middle East to Azerbaijan. And naturally he  did not miss the opportunity to criticize the activities of the OSCE  Minsk Group, noting that despite their efforts, they still did not  achieve any result.

Aliyev also said that the previous Armenian authorities categorically  refused the issue of transferring Kelbajar (Karvachar) with Lachin.  "In other words, a mechanism was proposed that assumed that these  areas would forever remain under Armenian control, which I  categorically could not agree to," he said.

In his interview, Aliyev again voiced the theses and principles that  run counter to the logic of the conflict settlement on the basis of  mutual concessions, trying by threats to impose on the Armenian side  a settlement concept convenient for Baku, without taking into account  the interests of Artsakh and Armenia.