Azerbaijani FM Mammadyarov: “We will not accept a territorial division of Azerbaijan=?UTF-8?B?4oCd?=
10:30, December 6, 2012
The following commentary by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov appeared in the December 5 edition of The Wall Street Journal
Securing Lasting Peace in the Caucasus
At the end of this week, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will gather in Dublin for its annual ministerial meeting. I remain hopeful that we can achieve real progress on resolving some of the outstanding issues facing our region—in particular, achieving lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is economically prosperous due to an oil and gas boom, but our efforts to build a modern country are handicapped by security issues. The broader Caspian region is plagued with tension, which could quickly escalate from political problems between neighbors to open conflict. The most irritating and damaging issue for my country is with neighboring Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh province of Azerbaijan.