‘‘There is a lack of justice today in order to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,’’ member of the Supreme Advisory Council of the Caspian Strategic Institute, the first head of the Permanent Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Georgia, Halil Akinci, said in an interview with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza on the sidelines of the international conference 'Russia and Turkey: strengthening multifaceted cooperation,’’ organized by the Russian Council on Foreign Affairs.
According to Akinci, it is impossible to accept the fact that part of Azerbaijan is occupied and 1 million people became refugees. "As long as it continues we cannot achieve stability in the Caucasus. Azerbaijan should be treated more fairly than it is now. The Nagorno-Karabakh problem should be solved. On the other hand, the occupant also suffers. If the issue is not solved, Armenia is doomed to live in poverty. Imagine. If Armenia resolves the conflict itself, in this case both the Armenians and the Azerbaijanis will live happily, and even Georgians will be in easy circumstances,’’ the expert said.
Halil Akinci compared the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with a lock on the door that prevents prosperity and peace. It should be opened. "Territorial ambitions in the South Caucasus don’t allow people to live peacefully. Armenia is about to commit ‘state suicide.’ I believe that Russia should increase its efforts to solve this problem issue, because the international organizations cannot do this. If Russia uses its influence to urge Armenia, the problem will be solved,’’ he noted.
As a real example of justice the expert cited the verdict of the European Court of Human Rights. According to it, the so-called Armenian genocide is the Armenian point of view on the tragic events in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire. It is not a historical fact, but only an opinion. So Turkish politician Dogu Perincek's accusations in respect of the denial of the Armenian genocide should be removed.
"Finally, we saw that justice also exists in Europe. This dispute is directly related to freedom of speech and thought. People tried to impose such a situation, when a person cannot think what he wants. This contradicts all the principles of Europe. Let me remind you that, besides Perincek, the famous historian Bernard Lewis was also accused of saying that the genocide didn’t exist.
In connection with this positive event, he called once again for a fair attitude towards Azerbaijan. 20% of the territory continues to be occupied by the Armenian Armed Forces.
The first head of the Permanent Mission of the OSCE in Georgia also noted that the Caucasus is a single entity, where a local conflict inevitably affects the well-being of the entire region. "The South Caucasus and the North Caucasus are a single organism. So what happens in one of those regions affects the other. Certainly, a settlement of the conflict in the South Caucasus would have a positive impact on security in the North Caucasus,’’ Halil Akinci concluded.
