By Angus Lyall
Columbia Daily Spectator
September 27, 2004
Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev, president of the Republic of Azerbaijan, used his Low Library speech on Friday to criticize international community for ignoring Azerbaijan’s ongoing territorial dispute with Armenia.
The generally upbeat address was part of Columbia University’s second annual World Leaders Forum. Aliyev credited foreign investment in Azerbaijan’s oil and gas industries for the country’s emergence from near economic collapse in the early 1990s. However, Aliyev described tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the lack of foreign intervention with a sense of urgency as he stated simply, “Patience has its limits.”
Aliyev, son of Azerbaijan’s previous president, Haydar Aliyev, holds a Ph.D. in history from the Moscow State University of International Relations and is also a former vice president of the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He came to power in October 2003 in the former Soviet state, which suffers from problems ranging from pervasive corruption and an underdeveloped economy to ethnic conflicts.
Aliyev spoke of his desire to establish lasting peace and stability in a historically unstable region. His country’s economic progress and swift integration into the international community after gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 show possibilities for the future.
He also noted that further economic and social progress within Azerbaijan depends on developing non-oil sectors of the economy, a process that requires further foreign investment. Aliyev pointed to the Armenian occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region as a source of instability and an obstruction to foreign investment.
“Twenty percent of our territory is under occupation,” Aliyev said.
This conflict stems from the popular desire among the Armenian majority in the Nagorno-Karabakh region for self-determination. The leaders of Azerbaijan have consistently insisted on preserving territorial integrity, and between 1988 and 1994, violent conflict resulted in thousands of deaths and 1.4 million refugees.
Aliyev referred to the continued occupation of the region as a “humanitarian catastrophe,” and chided the U.N. for failing to enforce the resolutions that the Security Council passed in 1993 calling for the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the contested region. He argued further that the legitimacy of the U.N. and of international law rides on the international community’s resolve to act on its resolutions by placing sanctions on Armenia.
Although Azerbaijan is committed to peaceful negotiation, Aliyev said, “negotiations cannot go on forever.” To loud applause he then stated that Azerbaijan reserves the right to restore territorial sovereignty “by any means.”
Yet, as the late former President Heydar Aliyev admitted last year, Azerbaijan has not purchased a single tank in seven or eight years, and Armenia continues to modernize its armed forces.
A highlight of the question-and-answer portion of the event was a pointed question regarding accusations that Aliyev’s government has severely restricted free speech and may have even rigged last year’s election. While criticizing those who would “throw stones at police,” Aliyev denied any breaches of civil liberties by his administration, and he attributed his overwhelming victory with 76 percent of the popular vote to political disarray within the opposition party.
He quickly refocused his response with further criticism of Armenia, arguing that the sooner the conflict can be resolved and international law upheld, the better Azerbaijan will be able to pursue economic and social reform.
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