Elkhan Alasgarov: "Baku has always offered peaceful coexistence to Yerevan"

Yesterday, Azerbaijan celebrated the anniversary of its independence - on October 18, 1991, Azerbaijan's Supreme Council adopted the Constitutional Act about the State Independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan from the USSR. The PhD, head of the expert council of Baku Network, Elkhan Alasgarov, told Vestnik Kavkaza about how Azerbaijan has lived these 25 years

- In your estimation, what kind of country and what state has Azerbaijan become over the 25 years of independence?

- We believe that our current Republic of Azerbaijan is the successor of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, which was declared in 1918. After the re-declaring its independence, it has been a glorious and very hard road for Azerbaijan in these 25 years. It was hard, because immediately after the declaration of independence by the three Caucasian countries, Azerbaijan has become a victim of aggression, it was occupied. Our neighbor Armenia, taking advantage of Azerbaijan's political instability, backed by foreign groups, including terrorist ones, was able to seize our territories and expel about one million refugees from the territory of Armenia and Nagorny Karabakh, from Shusha and Khojaly, other Karabakh settlements and from the seven adjacent districts, ruining them.

After Heydar Aliyev, who had a wealth of experience in public activities, came to power, the stability has been restored, and from this period Azerbaijan has begun gradually building its foreign and domestic policies. We owe him those heights that we have achieved as an independent country, and we always honor and remember it. Of course, Azerbaijan is the only country in the South Caucasus, which initiates the geopolitical agenda. For example, the North-South is a project that will bring together Russia, our great northern neighbor, with the southern countries, not only with Iran, but also with India and other countries surrounding the Indian Ocean. Azerbaijan is the initiator and major participant in the Great Silk Road, which goes through China and the Caspian Sea to Europe. Note that the two major transport directions – to Turkey and Iran – are financed by Azerbaijan. These are large countries, but the railways are being built at the initiative of Azerbaijan.

Thus, Azerbaijan has become a development zone, where the authorities are determined to carry out social transformations in the country and conceptually strengthen contacts with foreign countries. Azerbaijan has excellent relations with both Russia and Iran, as well as  with Georgia and Turkey, good relations with Western countries. We build our foreign policy on the good-neighbor basis, this is a position of principle, and in this context, we believe that after 25 years of independence, we have taken their place in the global and regional policy. If one compares Azerbaijan with our neighbors, and not only in the Caucasus, our development goes ahead.

- How has Azerbaijan's foreign policy influenced its relations with Russia – and what are the results of the Russian-Azerbaijani relations of today?

- Speaking about the context of Azerbaijan's life during these 25 years, the relations with Moscow were mixed in the first period. The Gorbachev era was marked by very controversial events, I should recall the 'Black January' of January 20, 1990. Initially, exactly this last Soviet period was associated with Moscow. But today, thanks to the mutual understanding and perception of the two countries, our relations are at a very high level. It is enough to cite as an example of the recent meeting of the leaders of Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan in Baku, which was held at the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev. He came out with the initiative, and a respected Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted the invitation, arrived in Baku, and the summit was held.

We understand that the world is experiencing inadequate events, especially those connected with Syria, with the intensification of international terrorism. Azerbaijanis have such a thing, that there are good day friends and there are hard day friends - a person, a society, a state can have them. Azerbaijan considers that to be a hard day friend is more valuable quality. Therefore, we consistently build relations with Russia both economically and militarily and politically. We support each other in international organizations, we had joint performances in the PACE. We are cooperating in the Caspian Sea in the very important economic area, we have a full understanding on the Caspian issue. Azerbaijani officers are trained in Russian military educational institutions, we cooperate with the military-industrial complex of Russia.

- How has the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict affected the development of Azerbaijan?

- The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was a stone, which was pulling Azerbaijan into the quagmire during the first years. What has this conflict given to Azerbaijan and Armenia? It gave Azerbaijan a million refugees, mainly civilians, since most of the inhabitants of the regions around Karabakh were villagers - and they were violently expelled during the ethnic cleansing. Agdam, Fizuli, Jabrail, Shusha is the center of our culture, and these cities were destroyed. Nothing like this has happened since the Second World War, when cities were destroyed to the ground, and people were expelled and exterminated. There was the Khojaly massacre, when 613 people were killed in two nights. Of course, these are dark stains on our relations with neighbors.

At the same time, Azerbaijan, until the last speeches of our President, has always said that it is necessary to get along with your neighbors. We publicly offer Armenia a peaceful coexistence, we offer the highest status of autonomy to the Armenians of Karabakh, where 30 thousand Armenians live. Note, that it is five times less than the population of Karabakh Armenians in the period of autonomy within the Azerbaijan SSR. There are objective facts that suggest that the idea of ​​self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians is hiding simple attempts to annex neighboring territories. The rights of Karabakh residents have already been violated: after the expulsion of Azerbaijanis, the Armenians, who have become hostages of the ruling group's policy, also flee. Azerbaijan, as a country that wants to ensure a normal future and improve relations with its neighbors, offers Armenia a peaceful coexistence and the conflict settlement.

Unfortunately, many of the world policy centers, which want to use the Nagorno-Karabakh to their advantage, got close to the conflict. We understand and monitor it. The situation is that after the April events, when Azerbaijan in the course of counter-insurgency, which was launched in response to Armenia's attacks against our villages, regained part of the territories – and this became an indicator of the need to address the issue. The status quo is now unprofitable neither for us, nor for Armenians. The occupied territories must be returned, there is no other way out of the situation. Armenia's autonomy as part of Azerbaijan is the normal formula of coexistence. Armenians live in Baku, nobody beats them, nobody expel them. We do not have any conflict with neither Armenians, nor with other nationalities, because Azerbaijan is a multinational country. Unfortunately, with the filing of certain forces, I think, the foreign ones, the virus of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was created under the slogan of self-determination. Self-determination should improve lives of people, but in reality they became its hostages, they even cannot visit Armenia normally, they are not able to leave.

- In your estimation, who has made the greatest contribution to the current state of Azerbaijan?

- Heydar Aliyev. It is difficult to overestimate his role. This is a man who has made a huge contribution to Azerbaijan's independence: he has suspended the conflict, resolved internal contradictions, developed the concept of an independent foreign policy of Azerbaijan, made very broad steps to normalize the economic situation. Heydar Aliyev was the initiator of the major oil consortiums with foreign countries and companies. He also laid the foundation for our new national army, he went to the front himself. The seasons will change and we will appreciate his role from the new position even more highly.

- In your estimation, what are the prospects for the development and life of Azerbaijan in the future?

- Now there is a global economic crisis, which has suspended a general growth in the world, but the government program of urgent measures for the development of Azerbaijan's non-oil industry is already bringing results. The population of the republic does not feel the decline in oil prices very much. We provide new jobs, develop the transportation, build railway lines and other transport links. People in all the cities and regions work actively. In recent years, tourism has developed greatly in Azerbaijan: many tourists visit Baku, its five-star hotels still do not have free rooms. In some areas, all the rooms in hotels are reserved until the new year. The agriculture has been also developed, the local agricultural production has increased greatly, and all kinds of our products are of high quality, non-GMO and delicious. Now there is a tendency to speak about the development of export of such agricultural products as cotton and tobacco, which directly bring money. In general, the situation in Azerbaijan is stable, despite the crisis, there is a tendency of development. Perhaps, the development is not as fast as before, but it is still moving in a progressive direction.