QUESTION: In the United States, France, and Russia (because of the weapons supply to Armenia), there are strong, powerful Armenian lobbies -- doesn't this create a disadvantage for Azerbaijan in the negotiations process?
AMBASSADOR GRIBKOV: I would like to answer, and maybe my colleagues will add something later. It is true that there is a large Armenian community in Russia. I think in this case, however, Azerbaijan has nothing to complain about. There is data that the Azerbaijani community is twice as large as the Armenian one in Russia.
I would like to make a short appeal to you. This is not incidental that they call you (the journalists) the fourth power but in my view you are not in any way in the fourth power but you are the first power. That's why a lot depends on your words. That is why I would like to personally ask you in your report to emphasize that there is no alternative to the peaceful solution of the conflict, and there cannot be -- that the military hostilities lead to nowhere, they lead to catastrophe for everyone. During each of our visits to the region we saw what scorch was done to the region by the military conflict. And it is just difficult to imagine what could happen if something terrible occurred in the region.
usinfo.state.gov
But I believe President Aliyev and President Kocharian have both looked over their shoulders at the situation in the Middle East. There, some very serious efforts at compromise to find peace were ripped apart by public opinion, as they became known before there was a complete peace package. The issues being dealt with there -- the division of the city of Jerusalem, how you would effect or limit the right of return for Palestinian refugees, how you would handle sovereignty on the Temple Mount -- were every bit as serious as the questions faced here on Nagorno-Karabakh.
PS LOL! Size does not matter! |
