Hikmet Hajizade: "Karabakh can be returned only by approbation of Karabakh Armenians"

He told the Zerkalo Baku newspaper that "Karabakh can be returned only peacefully, by approbation of Karabakh Armenians." As of referendum, the scholar noted that inclusion of that referendum into the framework agreement is a big defeat of the Azeri diplomacy. "Even if Azeri leaders manage to refuse from signing a peace treaty, the referendum issue will loom in all other peace settlement plans in the future," Hajizade said.

He reaffirmed the 2006 will not be the year of settlement of the Karabakh issue. "By the highest standards it is not a conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, but that between Azerbaijan and the Russian-Armenian alliance, even between West and Russia. If Azerbaijan agrees to OSCE conditions, luckily for us, under the pressure of Russia Karabakh and Armenia will refuse that plan. In its turn the West want to fight against Russia instead of us. The Karabakh peace may occur, when the West and Russia settle their global discrepancies, one of which – not the most important one – is Karabakh," Hajizade emphasized.

The political scientist also considers that the West wishes to conclude the Karabakh peace as soon as possible for "continuing pumping out energy resources of Azerbaijan and using the territory for strategic goals. For the sake of that objective they are ready to support any unfair peace. Some groups in the West are trying to present the affairs as if Karabakh is not an occupied, but a disputed territory. They say Abkhazia and Ossetia are Georgian lands, but Karabakh is a totally different case," he said.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/