AN ASSERTIVE POLICY

A conference of the heads of diplomatic service bodies of the Azerbaijani Republic has been held at the Foreign Ministry. This is the fifth such meeting which is held regularly every two years.

Opening the conference, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov noted that it marked the 95th anniversary of the diplomatic service in the Azerbaijani Republic which has travelled a long way over the past years. Whereas during the time of the ADR [Azerbaijani Democratic Republic] only a few embassies and consulates were open, and in the Soviet period the numerous foreign ministries of the union republics were merely sham and performed exclusively ceremonial functions, since Azerbaijan achieved its independence a full-fledged system of foreign political activity has taken shape and been successfully implemented. There are currently 57 embassies of the Azerbaijani Republic abroad, permanent missions within 9 international organizations, 9 general consulates, 7 representative offices and 7 honorary consulates. And in our republic there are 58 embassies of foreign states, 4 general consulates, 10 honorary consulates and 20 offices of international organizations. 

In line with an instruction of the head of state, the Foreign Ministry has undertaken work aimed at recognizing and commemorating the Xocali [Khojaly] genocide and informing the international public as to what is really happening in Karabakh. As a result, the Xocali genocide has been officially recognized in 15 states of the USA and by the parliaments of Colombia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia, Honduras, Peru, Panama, Pakistan, Mexico, Jordan and Bosnia-Hercegovina, and support has been expressed for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

A visible confirmation of its growing respect in the international arena and the effectiveness of its diplomacy was the election with the support of 155 delegations of the Azerbaijani Republic as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Azerbaijan is working actively with other structures of the UN, the non-aligned movement, the Islamic Cooperation Organization, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the European Union, NATO, the Organization of Economic Cooperation, the Council of Cooperation of the Turkic-speaking States, GUAM, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organi-zation, the Council of Cooperation of the Persian Gulf countries, the African Union, the Arab League and other regional and international organizations.

The foundation of the Azerbaijani International Development Aid Agency (AIDA) within the Foreign Ministry has helped to increase participation in international humanitarian projects and aid programmes, as well contribute to steady development. The increasing scale of the republic's foreign political activity has demanded a corresponding increase in personnel. With this in mind, the "ADA" University has been set up based on the Azerbaijani Diplomatic Academy which operated within the Foreign Ministry, It trains personnel at all levels of higher education, implements programmes of higher and further education and carries out fundamental and applied scientific research in the sphere of international relations.

All this has enabled President Ilham Aliyev, who addressed the conference, to give a high appraisal of our diplomacy. At the same time, he presented Azerbaijan's vision of the situation in the world and the region, defined Baku's official position and approaches on topical international problems, set tasks and outlined the guidelines for future work in this sphere. 

As the president said, Azerbaijan's foreign policy today is noted for its commitment to principles and independence. The main reason for this, of course, is its strong political will. At the same time, the country's successful development and its complete economic independence in recent years also allow us to express ourselves and uphold our interests in the international arena. The president's main conclusion was: "Azerbaijan is an independent country which has been able to establish itself in the world and in the international arena as a reliable partner and a reliable friend." 

Ilham Aliyev said the main question of our foreign policy was a settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh, pointing out that in the period since the last conference there has been no headway in this sphere, and the main reason has been Armenia's non-constructive position and its attempts to maintain the conflict in a frozen state. The president went on to say frankly that "no serious signal to Armenia has been made by the international public and the mediators dealing directly with this issue. We get the impression that the mediators dealing with this are more interested in maintaining the status quo. Their main interest is ensuring that there is stability and not war in the region. We, too, want peace, but I have said more than once that we want our lands back and we want to restore truth and justice and the rule of international law".

To achieve there is another possible way of solving this question. President Ilham Aliyev said frankly: "We have never denied this and we have stated openly that the military option is also not discounted, because the picture we have seen in the international arena in recent months and years shows that international law, unfortunately, is not working. The factor of force is playing the main role. By building up our military potential we can also solve the question by military means. We simply believe that the potential for talks has not been exhausted. By using political, economic and also military pressure we will endeavour to seek a solution to this problem by peaceful means, but it must be resolved."

As regards the formula for resolving this problem Ilham Aliyev responded to some diplomats and analysts who have recently been expressing proposals which boil down, essentially, to agreeing to secession, i.e. the separation of Nagornyy Karabakh from Azerbaijan, in exchange for the liberation by the Armenians of the seven regions they have occupied. The head of state stated clearly and unambiguously: "The creation of a second Armenian state on Azerbaijani territory is categorically impossible. Nagornyy Karabakh is ancestral territory. From the historical and legal points of view Karabakh has always been Azerbaijani land. For centuries the Azerbaijani people have lived and worked in Nagornyy Karabakh and in the other occupied lands. All the historical monuments, place names, names of cities ad villages are of Azerbaijani origin. That is the truth. We, of course, know this and the world also knows and should know this."

The president pointed out that a phased solution is uppermost and will be uppermost in reaching a peaceful settlement to the conflict, but this is not a substitute for the main objective. "Azerbaijanis must return to the occupied lands and to Nagornyy Karabakh, as this, too, is occupied land. Azerbaijan must re-establish its sovereignty. The Armenian people can live in conditions of a high status of autonomy within the framework of the Azerbaijani state," he said.

Azerbaijan will use all the opportunities and advantages at its disposal for a just settlement to the question based on international law. "Our population is growing and will continue to grow," Ilham Aliyev said, "but the Armenian population is being reduced and will continue to do so. We have isolated Armenia from all economic and energy projects and have been criticized for doing so. Armenia, of course, has no potential for development because it has a very small domestic market and its export potential is non-existent.  Because of this, migration is increasing every year, and according to their own official statistics, 40,000 Armenians left the country in the first quarter of this year. But the real figure is even higher.  Azerbaijan grows stronger while Armenia gets weaker. Only foreign aid, the diaspora and a special attitude towards it by some countries are keeping Armenia afloat." 

Turning to other questions of foreign policy, Ilham Aliyev pointed out the importance of good, healthy relations with neighbouring countries and expressed satisfaction that they were such today. As a new element in these relations he cited the addition at Baku's initiative of bilateral cooperation of a tripartite format such as Azerbaijan-Turkey-Georgia, Azerbaijan-Turkey-Iran and, recently, Azerbaijan-Turkey-Turkmenistan, an expression of which were the meetings at the level of foreign ministers and economy and industry ministers and one meeting at presidential level.

Despite erroneous and tendentious claims that Azerbaijan is distancing itself from Europe, the president stressed that the European countries are our traditional partners and that Baku gives priority to the bilateral format of relations. "We have very businesslike and warm relations with most European countries. This was clearly demonstrated by my visits to Europe and the visits by European heads of state and government to Azerbaijan. Europe is our main trading partner. Most of our export produce is sent to Europe. While drawing closer to Europe, we are also deepening political reforms in Azerbaijan. At the same time, we need European technology," he said.

However, the European vector is not the only one in Azerbaijan's foreign policy. As well as strengthening cooperation with neighbouring countries in recent years Baku is also strengthening its ties with the Muslim countries, and also developing cooperation with Asian countries, whose economic potential is gradually increasing in the world.

The Azerbaijani president stressed the importance of active work in international organizations, especially the UN, OSCE, ICO and others. But he made no secret of his dissatisfaction with their work. "The OSCE has failed to say anything or achieve any kind of result in settling the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh. Missions to study and assess the facts have twice been sent to the occupied lands. They have prepared a report and then tried to make it a balanced one. How can it be a balanced report? Our lands are occupied, everything has been razed to the ground. All towns, mosques, historical monuments and graveyards have been destroyed, so what kind of balanced report are we talking about? This is, of course, hypocrisy and an intolerable approach. But despite this - in other words, they cannot completely deny the truth - I believe that these missions have had positive results," he said.

Ilham Aliyev gave a positive assessment of our work in the Islamic Conference Organization, in which basic resolutions on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh have been adopted on more than one occasion. Along with this, definite concern was expressed that Armenia, taking advantage of the lack of information on the part of a number of Muslim countries about the existing situation, is trying to develop or strengthen bilateral relations with them. "I believe that if the officials of all the Muslim countries knew that the Armenians have destroyed mosques in Nagornyy Karabakh and its surroundings, then Armenia would hardly be successful in developing these relations," he said, issuing a relevant instruction to Azerbaijani diplomats.

The head of state also praised ties with other international organizations, noting Azerbaijan's assumption of the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. "When I was in Strasburg recently I set out our priorities linked with the chairmanship, so I don't need to repeat them. At the same time, I expressed my opinion more than once about our work within the framework of this organization in general. Unfortunately, there is an anti-Azerbaijan group in this organization which has been operating for many years. The Armenian lobby is behind it," he said.

The countermeasures to the anti-Azerbaijani initiatives are proving to be effective. The president gave a specific example where a biased report against Azerbaijan prepared last year fell flat. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe rejected this unfounded, biased report that had been compiled on the basis of false information. He dispelled the hopes of those circles who entertain the idea of putting pressure on Azerbaijan by using the subject of human rights: "I can tell you frankly that in 11 years of bilateral visits and bilateral meetings with European leaders I have never encountered any kind of disrespectful attitude towards Azerbaijan or an attempt to interfere in our affairs. Never."

The president stressed the importance of our embassies maintaining active links with diasporal organizations. "The embassy is the structure that conducts Azerbaijani foreign policy. The diasporal organizations must rally round their embassies. They should not quarrel among themselves or damage their country by their activities," he said. Nor did Ilham Aliyev ignore such important areas of foreign policy as the development and strengthening of Azerbaijan's foreign economic relations, the diplomatic support of large-scale energy projects and the promotion and protection of our investments in foreign countries.  

President Ilham Aliyev closed his speech with an assessment and also an expression of the principled position of and a guideline for our foreign ministry. He said: "Azerbaijan is conducting a principled and consistent foreign policy. It is conducting and will continue to conduct an independent foreign policy. Azerbaijan's diplomatic corps is doing successful work. Generally speaking, I am pleased with what you are doing. Of course, there may be various errors of judgement and shortcomings. But, on the whole, Azerbaijani diplomacy is experiencing a period of development. I wish you further success in your work."