Azerbaijani president lashes out at "Armenian nationalists"

Mina Muradova and Rufat Abbasov 3/29/06

Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, has lashed out at Armenia, claiming that "Armenian ideologists-nationalists" have pursued a policy of aggression against Azeris for "about 200 years." Aliyev's vitriolic rhetoric indicates that the window for a negotiated solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is slamming shut.

In his March 28 address, Aliyev said Armenians aimed "to oust Azerbaijanis from their lands, and create a state of ‘Greater Armenia.'" He went on to assert that Yerevan was solely responsible for starting hostilities between the two countries "aiming to forcibly unify Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia." He complained that "the history of our nation has been roughly distorted" by a comprehensive Armenian propaganda campaign that "mobilized the Armenia diaspora and lobby for those purposes," according to the text of the address distributed by the official AzerTag news agency.

Aliyev's speech occurred roughly six weeks after he and his Armenian counterpart, Robert Kocharian, failed to achieve a breakthrough in Karabakh peace negotiations during a summit meeting in France. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In the weeks leading up to that meeting, hopes ran high that the two leaders would agree on a peace framework. Though few details of the discussions have emerged, observers believe that disagreement over the timing and the scope of a Karabakh referendum concerning the territory's political future emerged as an insurmountable obstacle to a settlement.

Since the summit, international mediators had expressed hope that a settlement could still be found in 2006. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Aliyev's comments indicate, however, that Baku doesn't believe a peaceful settlement is achievable in the near term.

Claiming that Armenia has "become a hostage to the idea of a ‘great state,'" Aliyev alleged that peace talks stalled yet again "because of the destructive and aggressive policy of the Armenian leadership." He reiterated that Azerbaijan is committed to a negotiated Karabakh settlement that provides for "the restoration of our territorial integrity." But in comments sure to enrage Yerevan, Aliyev added that Armenian leaders were conducting an "informational-propagandistic fight concerning the invented ‘Armenian genocide' ... to prove their territorial claims and obtain political dividends."

Armenian officials had no immediate official reaction to the Azerbaijani president's comments. A central pillar of Yerevan's foreign policy has been securing international recognition of Ottoman Turkey's mass killings of Armenians, beginning in 1915, as genocide. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. President Kocharian previously cautioned that if Baku did not alter its negotiating position, the Armenian government would consider recognizing Karabakh's independence.

In recent weeks, Aliyev and other officials have repeatedly threatened that Azerbaijan might resort to military action if Baku determined that Karabakh peace negotiations stood no chance of success. In comments made March 27 during a ceremony at the National Security Ministry, and broadcast by ANS television, Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan's rapid economic growth, driven by the development of the country's abundant energy reserves, was enabling the government to embark on a far-reaching military build-up. He added that the potential for Karabakh negotiations "has not yet been exhausted."

"The other side [Armenia] must know that Azerbaijan is capable of securing its territorial integrity through war," Aliyev said.

Ceasefire violations in recent weeks have resulted in the deaths of several Azerbaijani soldiers, Lider television reported. The ArmInfo news agency on March 28 quoted Armenian Deputy Defense Minister Artur Agabekyan as saying Azerbaijani forces were responsible for starting the firefights. "Our servicemen ... are in a state of combat readiness," Agabekyan said. "They will be prepared to repulse any attack, be it a local attack or a large-scale one."

In addition to the build-up, Azerbaijan appears intent on mobilizing the Azeri diaspora to join in an information offensive to promote Baku's interests around the globe, including a Karabakh settlement that is favorable to Baku. Azerbaijani officials used the second Congress of World Azerbaijanis, held in mid March, to issue a call for rapid consolidation of diaspora groups in order to present a unified view of Azerbaijan and its policy aims to the outside world.

"In today's world, a successful information policy is one of the major factors of the overall development and perfect strengthening of statehood," Nazim Ibrahimov, the head of Azerbaijan's State Committee on Relations with Azerbaijanis Living Abroad, said in a March 16 speech to the congress' 600 delegates.

According to state committee figures, approximately 50 million Azeris live in over 70 countries. The largest diaspora communities are found in Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Ukraine, Germany and the United States. Approximately 30 million Azerbaijanis also live in modern Iran. Roughly 8 million Azeris live in Azerbaijan.

In his March 28 speech, Aliyev indicated that Baku would seek to use the Azeri diaspora to counter the "Armenian lobby abroad."

Some delegates to the congress acknowledged that Azeri diaspora groups had not done a good job in promoting Baku's policies. "The Azerbaijani diaspora is badly organized because it is young," Azad Seidov, head of the Azeri national cultural center in the Russian city Surgut, told EurasiaNet. "We do not have a common plan of action and Azerbaijani communities in foreign countries are working on their own. We have to unite in order to recover our lands, cultural heritage and customs."

Other representatives of diaspora groups confirmed that the consolidation effort was intended to influence the Karabakh peace process. Fahri Kerimli, chairman of board of the Romanian-Azerbaijani Cultural Assembly, said unification would assist in the "neutralization of efforts of Armenian diaspora around the world against Azerbaijan, Azerbaijanis and Turkey." A major aim of the intended information offensive, Kerimli added, was to recast Azerbaijan as the victim in the Karabakh conflict, dispelling the widely held view at present that Baku was the aggressor.

Seidov and other delegates expressed interest in coordinating actions with representatives of Turkish diaspora groups. "State interests ... made it necessary for the Azerbaijani and Turkish diasporas to cooperate – to jointly operate to solve vital problems," Ibrahimov, the state committee chief, said.

Editor's Note: Mina Muradova and Rufat Abbasov are freelance reporters in Baku.

Posted March 29, 2006 © Eurasianet