Baku rules out EEU joining until Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani diplomat highlighted Russia’s role in the settlement of the long-standing Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Polad Bulbuloglu, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia said Azerbaijan hopes for Russia’s mediation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement, as Russia is the region’s most authoritative country, and much depends on its stance and influence.

Russia is one of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk group, which has been tasked to broker peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“The only problem we have is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which we believe, will be possible to solve peacefully,” he said in an interview with Russia24 TV channel on May 21.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. A lengthy war in the early 1990s displaced over one million Azerbaijanis. Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions since.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by US, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far. Armenia has not yet implemented any of the four U.N. Security Council's resolutions on its pullout from neighboring country's territories.

The resolution of the conflict will be beneficial for the people of the two countries, believes the ambassador.

“It will be for the benefit of both the Azerbaijani people and the Armenian people, as well as for Russia itself, so that there will be peace, wellbeing and prosperity in the South Caucasus,” Bulbuloglu said.

Commenting on the possibility of Azerbaijan’s joining the Eurasian Economic Union that Armenia is also a member of, Bulbuloglu noted that Azerbaijan cannot enter the EEU until the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is resolved.

“Our country has more than a million refugees, 20 percent of our territories have been occupied. Having such a territorial conflict, we cannot be in the same league with the aggressor country and address any issues with this side,” the ambassador said.

The members of the Eurasian Economic Union are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. Its purpose is to carry out a coordinated economic policy and create a zone of free movement of goods, services, capital and labor.

Bulbuloglu stressed that this issue can be raised only after the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

During the interview, the ambassador also touched upon Azerbaijan’s role in the Eastern Partnership program of the European Union, noting that Azerbaijan has a special position in the Eastern Partnership.

Speaking about Azerbaijan’s refusal to sign the association agreement with the EU, Bulbuloglu said the country declared from the beginning that the agreement doesn’t suit it.

“We can only talk about equal and partner agreement. We are a self-sufficient country, we, in principle, need nothing from anyone, the country is developing at a rapid pace,” the ambassador added.

He recalled that Azerbaijan would, in June, host the First European Games, where Russia will be represented by a large delegation of over 600 people.

“Azerbaijan today doesn’t need to sign any contracts that at least in some way infringe its interests and its sovereignty,” Bulbuloglu said, noting that the country approaches international treaties very carefully, taking into account the future.

The Eastern Partnership envisages the political association and economic integration of the EU with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The last three countries signed an agreement on associated partnership with the EU in 2014.