ISLAMIC WORLD HAS BECOME MORE CAREFUL IN ITS ASSESSMENTS CONCERNING KARABAGH CONFLICT

 

                    The organization "Islamic Conference" (OIC) calls Azerbaijan for giving up the idea of military resolution of the                     Karabagh problem in its official statement made with respect of the presidential elections in Nagorno                     Karabagh which were held on Sunday. Official Baku places much reliance on the Islamic Conference which is                     an international organization with 55 member states. The Islamic fraternity has always promptly reacted to                     any request of Azerbaijan. OIC has taken around twenty various anti-Armenian resolutions. However, this                     time the wording of the statement disclosed by OIC was more cautious than Baku had expected.

          /PanARMENIAN.Net/ According to Rasim Mousabekov, a political analyst from Baku, "the latest statement of OIC is too mild even as compared to the previous one". Mousabekov does not approve of the leaders of the Islamic Conference who have merely expressed concern about the elections in Karabagh without referring again to "the 20% of occupied territories". Baku is also irritated by the fact that OIC called the Azerbaijani government for "continuing the policy of avoiding military confrontation with Armenia". In the diplomatic language this wording means the following: if you start a new war with Armenia, don't rely on us. Mousabekov thinks that this position of OIC is in contradiction with the "Islamic doctrine" which, according to Mousabekov, assumes military actions in a situation which currently exists in the Armenian-Azerbaijani confrontation.
          The moderation of OIC's position concerning Azerbaijan is connected with the consequences of the September 11 events which caused the aggravation of the conflict of the civilizations. Mousabekov thinks that because of Bin Laden's scurvy trick OIC is obliged to illustrate to the world "that it strives for resolving conflicts exclusively by peaceful means". The expert from Baku relates the rather moderate statement of OIC to the demonstration of such tendency. This assumption is more beneficial for Baku which is reluctant to admit that the mitigation in OIC's position with respect of the Karabagh problem is the result of the efforts of those Islamic states which are friendly to Armenia and do not accept the explicit anti-Armenian attitude of OIC's leaders. Today official Yerevan maintains rather close relations not only with Iran, Syria and Lebanon, but also with the United Arabic Emirates and Kuwait. During the last visit of the Armenian president to these countries the prospects of influencing on OIC's policy by the aforementioned states were discussed. Presumably, the dialogue with the Islamic countries on this issue has given its results.