Make a call for peace, stability, and prosperity

Published: Saturday February 09, 2008

Fourteen years after the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, why is there no peace agreement? Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan supplied the answer during a visit to Agdam, on the border of Karabakh, on January 17. Time is on Azerbaijan's side, he claimed.

The peace principles proposed by the mediators in the Karabakh conflict, the French, Russian, and U.S. co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, are favorable to Azerbaijan. Along with security guarantees for Karabakh and a commitment to the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, they provide for the return to Azerbaijan of territories it lost as it refused repeated ceasefire proposals in a war it initiated. They provide for a return of ethnic Azerbaijanis not only to those territories but also to Nagorno-Karabakh proper. And they delay the key question of the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh. In other words, they allow Azerbaijan to continue to pretend until further notice that Karabakh is part of its territory, while the people of Karabakh continue to exercise their independence.

Why does Mr. Aliyev refuse to agree to these principles? Because he believes he can avoid compromises. Time is on Azerbaijan's side, he explains. Azerbaijan is getting richer as it accumulates oil and gas revenues, he notes. It is spending a disproportionate amount of those revenues on its armed forces.

Why? Because "The war has not ended yet," he said. "It is just its first stage that has finished."

Azerbaijan is preparing for a new war.

Mr. Aliyev gave the same message to visiting EU officials this week. He told them Azerbaijan is ready to "wage war" with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, RFE/RL reported.

War is bloodshed, orphans, widows, maimed soldiers and civilians, destroyed lives, homes, businesses, shattered dreams and hopes. Karabakh and Armenia do not want it. It is hard to imagine that the people of Azerbaijan want it. The leaders of Azerbaijan, who tried it and were defeated, should know better.

Is the buildup to war in the interests of the people of any of the countries in the region? Is it in the U.S. interest? The answer is an unequivocal no.

An arms race is a waste of resources for the emergent economies of the region. It distorts their economic development. The countries pay a high price in lost opportunities for trade and fruitful investment.

War rhetoric inflames passions and drowns out the voices of those who advocate for amity, trade, and economic integration in the region. In each country, it strengthens the hand of militarists and autocrats over the forces of democracy and harmony.

It is in the interests of the United States to advocate peace over war, a commitment to a negotiated settlement over preparations for war. Members of Congress, led by Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Joe Knollenberg of Michigan, are circulating a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, urging her to show leadership in this matter.

In the letter, reproduced elsewhere in this issue, members of Congress urge Dr. Rice to challenge the government of Azerbaijan on its war rhetoric and ask her to "advocate for a retraction of the comments made by President Aliyev."

Members of Congress now have a chance to add their signatures to the letter. They will do so if they hear from their constituents. In the interests of peace, stability, and growing prosperity in the region, we should all contact our members of Congress.

We urge readers to check the list of signers to date (on page A6). If your representative is among them, please call and thank him or her. If your representative's name is not listed, please call and ask the member to sign the letter. Act now.

To phone your member of Congress, call (202) 224 3121.