Dennis Summut: "I do hope that year of 2008 will contribute to peace in the South Caucasus"

He noted that there is nothing extraordinary with his visit and he is going to meet with representatives of the parliament and with other partners in Azerbaijan.

Asked for his opinion about the initiative of a group of Azerbaijani and Armenian Parliamentarians to pay conjoint visit to Nagorno Garabagh, he said there are a lot of initiatives in this field. He considers all ideas bringing the peoples of the two countries to cooperation, to be positive.

"Noting this, it is necessary to stress than any such initiative must be elaborated, considering the delicacy of the issue. In other words, if such initiative is developed in time, I can regard it only as positive".

He also commented on criticism regarding Azerbaijan's intensified militarization and increased expenses for defense: "Each country has a right to choose its own ways, necessary to ensure its safety and security, in accordance with its rights and duties. Therefore, no one is criticizing Azerbaijan for such actions. Each country decides itself about how much it will allocate for defense and for other needs. The opinion that the security of the country depends on the number of available tanks and planes is old-fashioned. Provision of security in the 21st century is a more complicated issue, which requires a complex approach".

He said Azerbaijan's long-term security depends on the capability to establish relations with its neighbors and ensure duly integration of all the layers of the population with the society, rather than on the number of tanks and aircrafts.

He also touched upon the issue of forthcoming presidential elections in Armenia and Azerbaijan and its possible influence on the negotiations regarding Nagorno Garabagh. He said elections may suspend the process or encourage it as candidates to presidents come out with good programs on the conflict settlement and they may achieve success.

Anyway, he noted that he does not consider it necessary to stop negotiations on Garabagh for the period of elections.

"Everyone in Baku and Yerevan states that the Garabagh problem unites rather than causes clashed within the society. There aren't much differences in the positions of the leadership and opposition of Azerbaijan and Armenia regarding Nagorno Garabagh problem".

He said all political leaders should assure their voters that they speak about Garabagh feeling responsibility but not for the short-term political games, which protract the process.

/Day.Az/