Azeri letter to UN: Baku lays its fault at Armenia's door

Azeri letter to UN: Baku lays its fault at Armenia's door

July 2, 2011 - 19:07 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Ambassador Agshin Mehdiyev, Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the UN, has submitted neither more nor less than a 10-page letter to the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council.
In his letter, Mehdiev attempted to shift Azerbaijan's fault for permanent ceasefire violations on Armenia and Karabakh. However, Mehdiyev failed to mention that it's Azeri military units that permanently violate ceasefire, leaving soldiers and peaceful inhabitants dead and injured. For example, over the last week, about 200 instances of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani armed forces were reported, with 900 shots fired.
Moreover, it’s no secret who the Deauville statement of OSCE MG co-chairs on unacceptability of the use of force was addressed to, warning that the international community will strictly condemn any use of force.
Azeri representative is also accusing Armenia of ''having the sole purpose of misleading the international community'' of the main issue. One may infer the main issue to be a Karabakh conflict settlement, with Azeri authorities taking every effort to prevent it, lest they might lose their authority. A failure of Kazan meeting was an illustration of Azerbaijan's stalling for time. While many structures and organisations predicted a conclusive document to be signed at the meeting, Baku advanced a dozen of new suggestions reducing urges and demands of superpowers to nothing.
Another subject of complaint in Mehdiyev's letter was that of ''Karabakh being a historic part of Azerbaijan.'' ''From ancient times up to now, Karabakh was an inalienable part of Azerbaijan,'' the letter says, bearing no mention of the fact that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan announced itself as a legal successor to Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, but not to Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.
Specifically, Article 2 of Constitutional Act of Azerbaijan Republic on independent statehood of Azerbaijan Republic says, “Azerbaijan Republic is a legal successor of the Azerbaijan Republic dating back to the period of May 28,1918 – April 28, 1920.” Nagorno Karabakh, with 94% of Armenian population, by the decision of the Caucasus Bureau was included in Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic in a capacity of autonomy in 1921. Which means Karabakh has no bearing on modern Azerbaijan.
Thus, Mehdiyev's letter to UN suggests official Baku's continued attempts to misinform both Azerbaijani people and the international community, so as to disallow a rapid settlement of Karabakh issue, which brings Azeri authorities some certainty of future. However it's harldy likely for Azerbaijan to keep misleadign the international community without having to bear the consequences.