BAKU (RFE/RL)—Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has again ruled out the possibility of recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan and claimed to have secured broad international support for the disputed territory’s return under Azerbaijani rule.
In a New Year’s address to the nation, Aliyev spoke of “very important steps” towards the resolution of the Karabakh conflict which he said were taken in the course of 2009.
“The entire international community and parties directly dealing with this issue are demonstrating their will on how the problem will be solved,” he said, according to Azerbaijani media. “It is very heartening that the dominant position is the one which Azerbaijan has asserted for many years. That is, the issue must be solved on the basis of international law, within the framework of the territorial integrity of countries.
“Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity was not, is not and will never be a topic of negotiations. Nagorno-Karabakh will never become an independent state … Azerbaijan will never agree to that.”
“The Armenians residing in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Azerbaijanis that will be living there must live within the framework of a status of autonomy, and the most advanced international experience must be applied in that area,” he added.
Other Azerbaijani officials also stated in previous weeks that Baku can only grant Karabakh limited self-governance despite accepting peoples’ right to self-determination as one of the core principles for resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Both territorial integrity and self-determination were mentioned in a joint declaration adopted in late October by top diplomats from Armenia, Azerbaijan as well as three mediating powers: the United States, Russia and France.
The conflicting parties also make differing public interpretations of the “basic principles” of a Karabakh settlement put forward by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. The proposed framework agreement calls for the return to Azerbaijan of liberated territories linking Armenia and Karabakh and a future referendum of self-determination in the Armenian-controlled territory.
Azerbaijani officials claim that Karabakh’s indigenous Armenian population could only determine the extent of its self-rule within Azerbaijan. Armenian officials insist, however, the Karabakh Armenians would be able to vote for independence, reunification with Armenia or return under Azerbaijani control in the would-be referendum.
In his speech, Aliyev again threatened to end the bitter conflict by force. “Today our army is capable of achieving all objectives,” he said. “We have all the possibilities of freeing our land of occupation: both the military capacity and the patriotic spirit.”
Aliyev’s Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian, meanwhile, assured his compatriots on New Year’s Eve that the armed forces of Armenia and Karabakh remain in a position to maintain the status quo in the conflict zone. “Today, peace and stability in our region are more steady than one year ago,” Sarkisian said in a televised speech. “Components of that stability are numerous and in each of them Armenia has its significant and indispensable part.”
“For us the most important among those components is the maturing Armenian Army which is safeguarding the Motherland day and night, including this festive moment, the Army which was built by our immortal martyrs, who brought our people a victorious peace,” he added.
Neither Aliyev, nor Sarkisian commented on prospects for Karabakh peace in 2010. The two leaders held six face-to-face meetings in 2009 and are expected to meet again in the coming months. The international mediators have repeatedly urged them to iron out their remaining differences over the basic principles.
This guy has been drinking Sarkisyan’s vodka or smoking his Taliban friend’s marijuana.
If Artsagh is given back to the Turks……Sarkisyan and Dodi Gago should kiss their behinds good bye.
Yes, well Aliyev claims alot of things!!!!!!
Democracy, freespeech & media, human rights etc…….
2010 is the presidential election year in Azerbaijan. He talks and talks and talks …
He’ll be back again to run his mouth. Anyone who would have run against him is already in prison.
He claims to have the support of his own people too.
Can someone hit him with a bat and get this over with?
I am sick of him whining like a woman.. t. it is sooooooooooooooo annoying…does he not get through his thick and stupid head that Artsagh will not be given back to his stupid regime?
He keeps threatening to use force and army.. where are all those that agreed that using force is out of the question and if he violates this rule, he should be prosecuted.. ok maybe the last part was my idea..but come on.. someone needs to tell him to STOP WHINING and STOP THREATENING..
Bastard.
G
All his declarations are for internal consumption only to maintain his power on the country
Someone needs to tell this forever greasy dude the realities: (A) You lost the war. (B) Losers usually don’t dictate terms. (C) It was war you started. (D) You lost land that didn’t belong to you in the first place. You have been occupying these lands since the 1920’s when you were just “given” the land by Joseph Stalin (E) You treated the rightfull owners of those lands like garbage while occupying it. (F) You should be careful what you aspire too because another war might caust you more land as well as the detruction of your oil life line and more then likely ousting you with a long overdue ragime change.
John, I agree with all the fantastic points you raise. Now if only we had an effective propaganda machine that declared and drew attention to these points on an international level. If our leaders do not feel comfortable shouting these facts back at Aliev, we should at least have our journalists and commentators answer back with articles titled: ” Aliev, how can you ask for the return of lands that did not belong to you in the first place?” Why isn’t this fact, as well as the fact that Azerbaijan lost a war that it launched, and as a consequence the Armenian side liberated its long occupied/given away lands, aren’t being shouted to the world and Azerbaijan on a more effective level, in the US and international media, newspaper and internet venues? I wish someone in our leadership can explain why we are not taking advantage of this Golden opportunity to unveil the facts about how Karabagh became to be part of Azerbaijian, and the reasons why the Krabaghzies are demanding self determination. Why is the Armenian response so lacking and weak?
Katia..
Totally agree with you..
Why are we ssooo silent about voicing our victory? Why can’t someone bring these point out on the water?
I guess we should start sending letters to Azeri President explaining that even though he is in denial and the ARmenian govt may be slienced by force, the people will not be stopped and we know the truth…
something has to be done..
….and(G)the principle that led Western Countries to acknowledge former yougoslav countries’ right to independance must apply here too.UN dispositions are universal.
True… at the end of the day, no politician really gives a s**t about anything anwyays as long as they’re in power.
Armenian People demand Immediate response to Mr. Aliyev’s fabrication by Mt. Serzh Sargsyan, Mr. Bako Sahakian and Seyran Ohanyan.
Armenian People demand “immediate” response by Mr. Serzh Sargsyan, Mr. Bako Sahakian and Seyran Ohanyan to Mr. Aliyev’s fabrication. That is how politics works?
The 1969 Vienna convention on the Law of Treaties notes in its preamble that both the threat and the use of force are prohibited. Moreover, in Article 52, it establishes the principle that if threats of using force are made during diplomatic negotiations, then any resulting treaty is invalid, stating
“A treaty is void if its conclusion has been procured by the threat or use of force in
violation of the principles of international law embodied in the Charter of the
United Nations”.
Armenians should file criminal charges against Aliyev for violation of the above treaty.
P. Hartunian
No one can predict the future Papken but my guess is you will be one of many shining stars over the Armenian nation protecting Armenia from her enemies. Never give the barbarians anything… from an inch of land to a cup of water. Always hit them hard. Never let them get up. Our strength is our viciousness.
Papken..
That is what I am talking about? That is why I am asking.. Why in the heck no one stops him from using threats like that.. military threats.. That is dead violation of what the Article states.
Papken, as Dino stated.. you may be the individual suing everyone involved in this twisted and wrong system.. Dino, and myself will be supporting all your efforts and if I ever have a chance, I would love to contribute something myself…
Gayane
Gayane..
I am in the process of organizing Armenian National Political Party.
Once, I am done, I will file complaint against Aliev and his Big Brother Turkey.
P. Hartunian
The freedom loving of independent and free Artsakh Nation have liberated their lands from Azeri tyranny. Long live free and indeperndent Artsakh. Siktir to azeri-turks.
Are we seeing President Nasser of Egypt all over again….except in an Azerbaijanni disguise….
Sheikh Aliev trying to dump his tribal country’s problem on Artsakh and Armenians with the help of his oil wells…this is the only way, that he can prolong his presidency…war maniac philosophy over Armenians, make his people submitiv toward his dictatorial regime.
only the weak and ignorant resort to threats anyways, like u said he has the runs.
The old boy needs Rehab. WACKO
The only way to deal with Azeri threats is to encourage Iranians to put their claws around Azerbaijan and tighten the screws. Diplomatically of course!
Can an impoverished country like Armenia afford a second war? A war that might be a protracted grinding war, a conflict that might last years or decades! Can we all Armenians support sacrificing precious Armenian lives that long. How do we know the Turks will not cross the border this time? They did it in Cyprus, and they did it several times in northern Iraq. Think about! All of you!
Hamik, no one wants war and yes another war could hurt Armenia however, in order to defeat an enemy one must understand the enemy. Turks/Azeri’s are predatory. They are ultra opportunists and will exploit any opportunity if they sense a weakness. These animals understand one thing only: The big stick. They need to understand that another war might hurt Armenia but they will hurt as well and next time maybe worse. During the Genocide our own Catholigos instructed the Armenians to not fight for fear of further retribution and we know how that turned out; total destruction of the Armenian race. No, freedom involves fighting or we will forever be slaves to these Mongols!
I think we should pray for Aliev to get reelected and keep whining and threatening…cause that is all he’s been doing all this time instead of really acting on things he says. More power to him! We don’t know what type of maniac will be elected if not Aliev…
2010 is not a presidential year in Azerbaijan, and the return of the 5 or 7 rayons will be returned.
You’re right, presidential elections will be held in Azerbaijan in October 2013.
Mr. Aliyev and Azerbaijan doesn’t seem to understand that the resolution of a conflict is not based only on the conditions and desires of one of its parts, but the mutual making of concessions to achieve terms that are acceptable for both parts. Nor you will have everything you want and according to your conditions, nor will we.
You guys are so good at talking to each other. Why don’t you talk directly to the Azeri’s and let them know what if anything you are prepared to doabout Shahumyan and Nakhichevan regions still under Azeri Occupation.
I already talked to them many years ago about Nakhichevan and Shahumyan and about the entire right bank of the Kura river. They were confident to take all of Armenia and I said come and get it. Dont be afraid. do it. If you turks are so invincible come and get it. No reply to that of course. Had they attacked 5 years ago Armenia would have its natural historic borders at the Kura river. It could have easily been done in September 1993 but the barbarians to the west of Armenia amassed an army of 60,000 Mongoloids. In 1994 it would have been possible to reach our historic border to the caspian sea but unfortunately ceasefire was forced on us. Now the great game for control of the world energy resources is in full swing. Armenia will hardly exist because of it. If the Armenian people understood that Armenia would be strangled by not only the barbarians but also the russians, europeans and americans then maybe we would have done the right things. Israelis keep their existence in perspective. If the Jews thought like Armenians they would have been thrown into the sea a long time ago. If the Armenians can think outside the box and realize that our continued existence is a not given then maybe we have a chance to survive and eventually beat our eternal genocidal enemies.
Dino,
You are absolutely correct.
We, the ARmenian people need to think outside of the box.. ABSOLUTELY A MUST THING TO DO.. if we ever want to regain the territories, lands, culture, the county EVER again…and like you said, our existance is not given but we need to be united, and have ONE CENTRAL BRAIN, HEART AND BODY to jaxjaxel our enemies…
Well Said.
Gayane
Dear Svetlana,
I agree with you…however, what do you think the people in Diaspora have been doing? Wanting to talk is one thing, trying to talk to people, Azeri’s and of course the Armenian govt (lets not discriminate here) is completely different matters.. how can you talk to people who have thik heads and are stupid and ignorant?..
We are always coming up with ways to communicate and spread the word out. No matter how small that is, one voice adds to another and eventually we will have a roar.. Unfortunately, this has been a very slow process due to many factors that Diaspora and ARmenians in Armenia face.
Our goal, well at least my goal is to spread the word and yell as loud as I can to educate non-Armenians as well as those Armenians who see the state of our people, country and culture with black and dead eyes..
Hope that we will have a victory.. for our sake and put away the whiny and shriveled up individuals like Aliev in Koo-Koo house.
Gayane
Hey fellow readers ! Armenia’s President works for other people and does NOT work for the people of Armenia, so we shouldn’t really be expecting him to actually say something back to Aliyev…because he probably wont ! From the bottom of my heart I beg each and every one of you to please go and google “azerbaijan: the real, the fake and absurd” Please please please do it now ! A Young Armenian man from Iran has spent years writing this article on the entire historyof azerbaijan…theres things in his article you would have never have known about. Do yourselves a favour and read it, then re-read it and tell all your friends to read it. This article is so well written and so full of facts, theres nothing misleading or any lies. Please do yourself a favour and read it ! NOW !
Hi there…
Click on the link and you will be able to read the article…
http://forum.armkb.com/history-politics/31763-fraud-had-name-azerbaijan-real-fake-absurd-3.html
Have not finished reading but I am planning to.. definintely very interseting..
They have painted their faces and they are doing a war dance.
What choice do we have.
We just have to wait
Hey guys I think Alieve is barcking to his people , as you know those azeris like some one to stere them up , so this so called Alieve is stering his dogs for war , the son of a bitch has no idea how to run his country and remember azerbijan has lots of tribes who don’t like to fight a war, if they want war well they can have a war , they will lose and this time all the refineries will be blown up…………