Day.Az: OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Yuri Merzlyakov of Russia, Bernard Fassier of France and Robert Bradtke of the U.S. tripped to the region recently. Do you believe the current visits of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to Azerbaijan and Armenia will lead to significant progress in resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?
Vafa Guluzade: I am confident that it will not. The persons specified as OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are minor functionaries. True co-chairs of OSCE Minsk Group are the presidents of the United States, France and Russia who, quite possibly, even do not really know what Mr. Merzlyakov, Fassier and Bradtke do during their visits to Baku and Yerevan. This troika gets pretty good pay, they fly to Baku and Yerevan and taste the Azerbaijani and Armenian cuisine. Position of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries does not enable to hope for a change in their attitude towards the process of resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
It would be appropriate to note that the Azerbaijani side has recently urged the U.S. to play a more active role in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Q: Is there any hope that this appeal will lead to concrete actions by the U.S. in a just settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?
A: I do not think that this will somehow impact short-term steps by the U.S. on a just settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We all witnessed the position of the United States recently during the signing of Turkish-Armenian protocols in Zurich.
I was struck by pleasure of the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the course of the ceremony. Oh my God, the United States, who suffered much from terrorists, shakes hands and embraces terrorist Serzh Sargsyan, who was involved in the massacre of the peaceful Azerbaijani population, in occupation of Azerbaijani territories which displaced hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani from their homes. Naturally, under such a policy, it would be naïve to expect the superpower like U.S. to take steps for a just settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Q: Recently, there have been much talks about Turkey’s becoming OSCE Minsk co-chair. Do you think it is possible?
A: I believe OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries will make every effort ensure opening of Turkish-Armenian border under any pretext. Talks about the likelihood that Turkey will become co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group resumed against this background. All of these talks have a single goal - minimize Azerbaijan’s discontent with possible opening of Turkish-Armenian border.
They will try to present Turkey’s becoming co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group to Azerbaijan as a significant progress in a just settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. But this is ridiculous. Because, if countries like the United States and Russia do not resolve different causes of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, Turkey has no chance to solve it either.
Q: Then why Armenia so nervously reacts to the idea that Turkey may become OSCE Minsk Group co-chair?
A: The answer to this question lies in feelings of hatred towards the Turks passed from generation to generation in Armenian. As a man who had numerous talks with Armenian diplomats and politicians, I can assure you that for Armenians a Turk man is a person whose raison d'être is to cut heads of Armenians by yataghan. For this reason, any mention of Turkey to Armenians is perceived negatively. Armenian leadership insists on opening of borders with Turkey against its will and certainly not out of love for Turks, but because of a need to address its own serious economic problems.
Day.Az
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