Despite the end of the war in Karabakh, the conflict has not yet been fully resolved., said Oleg Kuznetsov, Russian expert and member of the the Institute of History of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences.
Oleg Kuznetsov made comments to Eurasia Diary portal on the fate of Karabakh Armenians and Russia's subsequent policy on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Russian expert said that he sees a complete solution to the conflict within restoration the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. After that, measures could be taken to determine the legal status of the Armenian population in the region.
"Of course, Armenians in Karabakh should not have any special rights as an ethnic group. I believe that the acquisition of Azerbaijani citizenship by each of the former Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh should be carried out individually. In addition, It is necessary to investigate the participation of each of them in the commission of military and other crimes against Azerbaijan, and only then civil rights must be fully guaranteed," Kuznetsov stressed.
"It is possible that every Armenian resident of Karabakh will take a written oath of allegiance to Azerbaijan, and until then they will not have to be ensured with pensions, social benefits and salaries from the state budget.
Russian expert believes that in the future it is possible for the two peoples to live together in the territory of Karabakh, but for this it is necessary to take a "course of individual disinfection" on a voluntary basis.
"In this case, the work on this issue must be fulfilled individually and purposefully. The leadership of the country must not only ideologically re-educate each new citizen, but also pay attention to his adaptation in a new multinational social environment. I think that the main work in this activity should be carried out not by law enforcement agencies, but by the ombudsman's office or the Commissioner for Human Rights, and their powers should include working on the socio-political adaptation of the Armenian population of Azerbaijan, " Kuznetsov noted.
Kuznetsov also thouched upon the role of historians in the solution of the conflict.
"Maybe in 15 or 20 years historians from both sides will be needed. However, the activities of the military police and special services in this issue are still more relevant: the Armenian population must be kept under strict administrative control, their contacts with Yerevan and the diaspora must be controlled, attempts by Armenian nationalists to exert ideological influence on the Armenian population in Azerbaijan must be prevented," expert emphasized.
Furthermore, Kuznetsov expressed his opinion on Russian President, Vladimir Putin's statement on the determination of status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to Oleg Kuznetsov, President Putin said that in order to put an end to the history of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan needs to make some legal decisions on the status of the region within the country.
"According to my understanding of Azerbaijani laws and the legislative system, the status of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan will be determined in the form of the adoption of a constitutional law in accordance with the whole complex procedure. This process will take several years. In this sense, President Putin is absolutely right: now the de facto status of Nagorno-Karabakh is a territory under the control of Russian peacekeepers, and it must still be de-jure part of Azerbaijan. This is exactly what Putin meant when he said that the status of Nagorno- Karabakh has not yet been determined. However, this issue is a completely internal affair of Azerbaijan, it must and will be resolved without any external influence and pressure, "he said.
Interviewed by Gulnar Salimova.
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