The Fifth Conference on International Security is being held in Moscow. The correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza asked the Director of the Azerbaijani Center for Strategic Studies, Farhad Mammadov, on the sidelines of the conference, whether the topics discussed at the forum are relevant for Azerbaijan.
"The Center for Strategic Studies under the Azerbaijani President is participating in the Moscow international conference on security organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense for the third time. Of course, topics are different every year, but the regions being discussed - Middle East, Central Asia, the Pacific - are interesting for Azerbaijan. The processes occurring there, in particular: confronting international terrorism, creating new architecture of global security, are very interesting for Azerbaijan. Two years ago we were represented at the conference by the Defense Minister, today by the Deputy Defense Minister, Kerim Veliyev, and by the expert community, represented by our Center," Farhad Mammadov said in an exclusive interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.
Speaking about his forecast for the development of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, the director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the Azerbaijani President said: "The escalation, which took place on April 2-5, has shown that the status quo, which established in 1994, cannot be kept in place. Azerbaijan hopes that the negotiation process will be intensified. And the fact that the president of the country announced a unilateral ceasefire 24 hours, after the beginning of the escalation, proved it. After Russia interfered as a mediator the ceasefire agreement was reached, although fire exchange continues. Yesterday, as you know, the city of Terter was shelled [by Armenians]. The Azerbaijani military was forced to use artillery to stop the shelling," the expert said.
"Azerbaijan hopes for intensification of the negotiation process. It can be held at the level of foreign ministers as a preparatory meeting before the meeting of the presidents. Today, the most active mediator in this matter is the Russian Federation. It became also evident that there is no more potential in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, because there is a situation in the region, when the conflict must be solved immediately, as each memorable date leads to the escalation of the conflict," Farhad Mammadov explained.
"No one is immune from repeating these events. In this context, the outbreak of active hostilities is not in the interest of both countries in the region, as well as their neighbors. In this regard, the international community, in particular the member-states of the OSCE Minsk Group should make every effort to put pressure on Armenia in order to start the process. The process itself is an issue which is being discussed behind closed doors, we as a community of experts can only assume. It is important to start the process, the sides of the conflict must make a compromise. And these compromises should be found step by step," he noted.
The political scientist stressed that among the three co-chairs Russia proved itself at the highest level during the last escalation. "It should also be noted that the last round of negotiations at the highest level, the Sochi meetings, was held with the mediation of the Russian Federation. In this regard, Azerbaijan is optimistic about the negotiation process. On the other hand, we may see that the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited the the sides of the conflict. Therefore, the mediation rate rose from the level of the Foreign Ministry to the Prime Minister. We hope to continue this format," Farhad Mammadov noted.
Speaking about the military topic of the conference, the Director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the Azerbaijani President drew attention to the fact that military-technical cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia is at a high level. "This is one of the four main areas of relations between our two countries. In this context, the statement of the Russian officials about further military-technical cooperation, which, of course, irritates the Armenian side, gives hope that this cooperation will continue. Because Azerbaijan's defensive capacity is important for Russia either, as we are strategic partners, neighbors in the Caspian region, and it is the desire of any normal country to have a strong, prosperous and defense neighbor," Farhad Mammadov concluded.
