“Aliyev put forth two issues and solved them himself. The problem was that he wanted to show that negotiations were taking place according to his preferred method (without Artsakh being a full participant). I believe that Azerbaijan will toughen its position soon,” political analyst Ara Papian told reporters regarding the meeting between Pashinyan and Aliyev that took place in Vienna.
Commenting on Aliyev’s statement after the meeting that the sides need to come forward with humanitarian initiatives, Papian emphasized that the Azeri president likely was referring to the transfer of prisoners. “But since Azerbaijan has not clarified the difference between soldiers and civilians for its citizens and that humanitarian ideals need to be upheld, Armenia needs to emphasize instances in which human rights were violated, including when civilians were killed during the April War and when our soldiers’ bodies were mutilated.”
According to Ara Papian, Azerbaijan is trying to carry out even more anti-Armenian activities under the name of “humanitarianism” by trying to convince Armenia to transfer people who tried to sabotage Artsakh in exchange for Armenian citizen Karen Ghazaryan. “If that happens, our citizens will be equal to saboteurs, and Azerbaijan will call upon its citizens to torture and kill us. Azerbaijan continues to label murder as heroism and to consider all Armenians as their enemies. This is against calls for people to prepare for peace. Karen Ghazaryan did not commit a crime against Azerbaijan, unlike the saboteurs who killed people, including a teenager who was not a soldier.”
Luiza Sukiasyan
