Opening of Turkey-Armenia border will delay liberation of occupied territories: Azerbaijani deputy FM

Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov says three principles of international law - territorial integrity, non-use of force and self-determination are reviewed and the territorial integrity of the countries and inviolability of the borders remain as a background of those principles as a common denominator.

Deputy Foreign Minister Azimov answered the questions about the principles of solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in an interview with Azerbaijan-based ATV television channel.

“The self-determination shouldn’t lead to division of the country or separation of the borders without the country’s permission. The self-determination is not independence. This right can be provided only within the territorial integrity and can be reviewed as a internal self-determination and valued as a norm in the international experience”.

"In negotiations with Armenia, Azerbaijan, in accordance with the position of constructive conflict resolution on a reciprocal basis, is prepared as a common denominator to move from the position of vertical submission to position of determining status of self-governance of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh region through implementation of self-determination within the framework of territorial integrity,” Azimov said.

“We expect the same approach from Armenia which must abandon its maximalist position to demand independence for Nagorno Karabakh to the detriment of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and agree to the proposed common denominator - the realization of self-determination within the framework of territorial integrity. This is called compromise, and assessed as a constructive approach. Without the consent of Azerbaijan, it is  impossible to change territory and borders of Azerbaijan. Thus, Armenia has two options – it agrees with the continuation of the present situation, or accepts the above-mentioned denominator as a basis for settlement of the conflict. So far, we see no clarity on the part of Armenia in this matter,” Azimov said.

"With regard to status, we should emphasize that determining of status must be impartial, it should be implemented in impartial conditions. The concept of impartial conditions include eliminating factor of occupation and return of all territories, restoration of infrastructure and return of population, especially the Azerbaijanis of Nagorno Karabakh. The question can not be resolved without return of Azerbaijanis to the territories liberated from occupation,  the status of Nagorno-Karabakh can be determined only with participation of the entire population of the region. In this region, people must once again live together, cooperate in a peaceful environment, build good neighborly relations drawing away from the hostile sentiment. In such circumstances, one can move to the issue of status determination. Once again I would like to emphasize that to determine the status, occupation factor must be eliminated, roads must be restored and cooperation should replace of enmity,” Azimov said.

"Before that happens, to resolve important tasks facing us, it is planned to take measures in the appropriate sequence of actions to liberate the territories, to return the population, resume cooperation in the realization of which Azerbaijan will have to cooperate with the Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh. After liberation of the occupied territories, central authorities of Azerbaijan will be ready to implement socio-economic measures to benefit both the Azerbaijani and Armenian population of the region. After the return of Azerbaijanis to Nagorno-Karabakh, conditions must be provided for their residence and establishment of relations with Armenian neighbors. At the same time, conditions should be created for cooperation between Armenia and the Azerbaijani side in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Azimov added.

“In addition, a number of international organizations will implement different programs in Karabakh within a certain period. In order to implement all these measures, cooperation and ensuring equal residence of populations of the region is expected to take place before determining final status and application of interim agreements (temporary status). This in turn will provide both communities - the Azerbaijani and Armenian - in the region with equal conditions and rights and their protection. At a certain stage of the negotiation process, representatives of the Nagorno-Karabakh population of both communities will be in the proper order involved in the process in order to participate in discussion and resolution of issues directly impacting their interests,” he said.

Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister said despite the fact that the right to return to their homes of people who were forcibly expelled from their places of residence is recognized as one of the principles in the conflict resolution, a number of issues still need to be clarified.

“So, for more than 20-year history of the conflict, certain part of the population from each of the parties was forced to change their place of residence. However, among this population, along with the refugees from Armenia and Azerbaijan there is a special, most affected group who lives only in Azerbaijan, as in the side which has been subject to aggression and ethnic cleansing, and comprises about 700,000 people - a group of internally displaced persons. Thus, the problem of refugees from both sides will be resolved on a reciprocal basis in subsequent phases. However, the problem of internally displaced persons is one-sided, because only Azerbaijan faced consequences of occupation.”

"Attempts by the Armenian side in any way to balance this issue are not constructive and are not acceptable. The occupied territories should be freed, displaced people should return to their places of permanent residence. Recognition of  their right of return is not sufficient. Return of internally displaced persons should be ensured by Armenia as a commitment. This question applies particularly Azerbaijanis excelled from Nagorno-Karabakh as their return to the region is of the special legal and political significance, because only their return will eliminate the consequences of ethnic cleansing and will create impartial conditions to determine the status. This approach is imperative both in terms of norms and principles of international law and ethical norms and values of humanism."

"One of the important factors in resolution of the conflict is the opening of roads and borders, where the first principle will be the simultaneous opening of all roads and borders, while a second will be opportunity to open them only after liberation of occupied territories. In particular, given the link of this issue to the opening of the border between Turkey and Armenia it should be noted that the opening of the borders will unilaterally delay liberation of the occupied territories and, thus, complicates the return of Azerbaijanis to Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories. Constructively speaking, we propose opening of the Turkish-Armenian border as part of settlement of the conflict simultaneously with the liberation of the occupied territories and to make use of roads, especially the Lachin corridor available for all sides. This principle should be adopted and approved at this early stage. Without this, process of settlement of the conflict will be even more difficult,” Azimov said.