OLEG KUZNETSOV: "ARMENIA - A TOOL IN SOMEONE ELSE'S GEOPOLITICS"
... It has been so always, at least for the past 150 years and so will it be now. Armenians have traditionally been used by Atlanticists such as the UK, the USA and France for the purpose of destroying continental empires. Persia is a case in point and so is the Ottoman Empire as well as the USSR.
regionplus.az - issue № 236
Interview with well-known Russian historian and political analyst Oleg Kuznetsov
Author: Rizvan HUSEYNOV
- We have witnessed numerous provocations lately along the contact line on the Armenia-Azerbaijan front. Yet the strongest tensions were probably caused by recent provocations by the Armenian armed forces which announced that they had allegedly seized some strategically important point at the boarder between Naxcivan and Armenia. Could one suppose that the Armenian side is trying to incite Azerbaijan to a military confrontation in this sector that would enable Yerevan to draw the Collective Security Treaty Organization [CSTO] into the conflict?
- Just the other day, I returned to Moscow from Naxcivani - excuse me but I am going to use the name historically accepted in Russia. However I saw nothing there to suggest any large-scale clash along the confrontation line between the opposed sides. To avoid any misinterpretation of the purpose of my trip, I will say that it had been planned long before and involved taking part in an international research conference connected with celebrations throughout Azerbaijan to mark the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic [Azerbaijani exclave]. The schedule of the events had been approved by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev early this year. Apart from me, this scholarly event was attended by fellow researchers from Turkey and the USA. It took place in Ag-Bulag, or White Spring, a resort area one kilometre away from the Naxcivan-Armenia boarder. The plenary session of the conference lasted about four hours. Taking part in it were Vasif Talibov, chairman of the Milli Maclis [parliament] of the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic, and Ali Hasanov, the administrator of the Milli Maclis of the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic. Think for yourself, if the situation were at the boarder were troubled, would they have travelled to an area of hostilities taking along foreign guests whose lives and opinions are of value to them?