Azerbaijan's leadership has really got an opportunity to use the UN tribune and the status of the UN Security Council's non-permanent member to strengthen its positions on the international arena in 2012-2013. Baku is very likely to use these new opportunities in its diplomatic and information war against Armenia, Alexander Krylov, senior research fellow at the World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Sciences, History, told ArmInfo.
On October 26 Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan is going to discuss the issue of submitting the Karabakh problem to consideration of the UN with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Azerbaijan became the UN SC's non-permanent member for 2012-2013 for the first time in its history.
"This war has been waged for years and is now bringing its fruits. In Europe there is no deficit of the Azerbaijani literature translated into many languages. This allows Azerbaijan introducing its own interpretation of the Karabakh conflict and discrediting Armenia and presenting it as an "aggressor" and "occupant". However, this has not yet led to a one sided concessions or capitulation of Armenia in the Karabakh process. The status of the UN SC's non-permanent member will hardly allow Azerbaijan to settle this issue," he said.
At the same time, Krylov said, the Azerbaijani leadership has got a good opportunity to use that status to overcome the mentality of confrontation, enmity and stereotypes, and offer real ways of confidence building and create bases for settlement of the conflict. In that case, it will be possible to speak of real progress in the peace process, he said.