Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:
The entire world politics is experiencing turbulence, which, of course, affects everyone, Sergey Markov, Russian president’s confidant, told reporters in Baku June 21.
"Today, Russia continues to strengthen relations with Turkey,” Markov, who is also member of the Russian Civic Chamber, said. “In this regard, the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project, as part of which Russia is practically creating the Turkish nuclear industry, is interesting."
Markov added that Baku and Moscow continue to strengthen relations in various spheres beginning from military sphere and ending with tourism and agriculture.
"We are pleased with the development of tourism in Azerbaijan,” he said. “Tourists not only from Russia but also from Arab countries visit Azerbaijan to appreciate the brilliant tourist infrastructure created in the country."
Markov said that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is also important in the bilateral agenda.
“Russia is quite active as a mediator in this process [the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement],” he said. “Kremlin has no contradictions with other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.”
"Today, the essence of the mediators' work is to help Azerbaijan and Armenia to start substantive negotiations for the sake of result, rather than for the negotiations,” Markov said.
“In my opinion, these negotiations are based on the Kazan formula, which envisages the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan," the expert said.
He said that if the negotiations are not resumed at the end of the tourist season, it is possible to expect an aggravation of the situation on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.
“The OSCE Minsk Group tries to clarify the positions of Armenia and Azerbaijan today, bring both countries to the negotiating table and finally, bring the sides to reach a big peace treaty,” the expert said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Speaking about the Russian military base in the Armenian city of Gyumri, Markov said that the base has more symbolic political significance than military one and Armenia needs it more than Russia.
Regarding the situation around the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress, Markov said that both sides of the dispute show restraint, however, the solution to this issue is the consensus of Baku and Moscow.
“Taking into account high confidence between the Azerbaijani and Russian authorities, it can play a positive role in this process,” he said. “At the same time, the Russian side must show respect to the Azerbaijani side.”