Azeri studies expert and deputy Tatev Hayrapetyan spoke to reporters about the meeting between the Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers and the meeting that took place between Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev in Davos. According to her, negotiations at the moment are not about specific options, but instead they are more so focused on creating an atmosphere of mutual trust, removing aggressive rhetoric, and decreasing tensions at the border.
When asked if it would be more beneficial for Armenia if Azerbaijan were to have an opposition force come into power, Hayrapetyan said that the reality is, no option serves Armenian interests. As far as whether Aliyev remaining in power will benefit Armenians, she said that it will depend on several predictions. “To say that he has rejected any military solutions and will go on the route of peaceful negotiations is not factual either in April of 2016 or now. I think that he is trying to uphold that possibility, despite the fact that it is obvious that Armenia is issuing statements on all diplomatic platforms that there will be no military resolution. The intensive negotiations process is aimed specifically towards that, so that no one tries to resolve the conflict militarily.”
Tatev Hayrapetyan said that the main progress resulting from the informal meetings is the fact that the number of casualties at the border has dramatically increased, which is impossible to not see as a positive thing.
Roza Hakobyan