“If Ilham Aliyev had boycotted, he would not have met with Minsk Group co-chairs. In any case, he met with them. He just wanted to show them what he’s made of,” the chairman of the Free Citizen Civic Initiatives Support Center, Hovsep Khurshudyan, told Aravot Daily in response to the question of whether or not Ilham Aliyev’s statement denying that he invited the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to Baku is proof that Azerbaijan is boycotting the Minsk Group format.
According to Khurshudyan, Aliyev still has some time to be stubborn until the situation in the United States is settled, be he also noted that Aliyev seems to be trying to abuse that time. “It should not be considered a boycott, but a confrontation with the West. I am sure that he was sponsored by Erdogan, if not Putin as well. I can not say for sure about Putin, but I am sure about Erdogan because his speech in Baku was directed against the West when he said that Western imperialists have destabilized the situation in the region. Therefore, he is now trying to make the West understand that the Western scenario for resolving the Artsakh conflict via the Madrid Principles, which provides some clarity and which also includes the deployment of peacekeeping forces in the territories that were under the control of Artsakh until September 27, 2020, is not acceptable for him. Not to mention the situation of Artsakh’s status. The Minsk Group aims to resolve that issue through negotiations. It also provides an opportunity for the issue to be resolved through a referendum. It is not a coincidence that the resolutions passed by the French Senate and National Assembly are aimed to make Russia understand that, if the agreements made by the Minsk Group will be violated, then France will recognize Artsakh’s independence; it will go the same route as Kosovo. The decision passed by the foreign affairs committee of the Belgian parliament regarding the war crimes committed by Azerbaijan also contains a message about the Kosovo opportunity.”
When asked if Azerbaijan’s confrontation will be more harmful to Armenia or Azerbaijan, Hovsep Khurshudyan said, “That depends on how stable the Armenian authorities are. Look, Aliyev’s abuse is accompanied by informational terror against Armenian society, which is also fueled by certain military operations that we saw in the direction of Khtsaberd. In other words, everything is being done to destabilize the political situation here, to bring about a change of government, and to bring forth a government that will fulfill Russia’s wishes, which will agree to fix the provisions of the trilateral agreement without the presence of the Minsk Group.”
According to Hovsep Khurshudyan, Russia is unable to reject the Minsk Group because it also needs the Minsk Group in order to limit Turkey’s entrance into the Caucasus.
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He also said that Armenia’s and Artsakh’s resistance and refusal to surrender also gave the West an opportunity to get involved and to take decisive steps to stop it. The responsibility of the West is that, although France and the United States have exerted some pressure on Azerbaijan and Turkey to stop the war, it was not enough. On the other hand, the EU has at least gotten across the message that, when you blame us for not helping you, you need to understand that we were unable to provide military support because Armenia is a member of the CSTO and not NATO. Therefore, Russia was supposed to do that.
In addition, Hovsep Khurshudyan believes that, if it were only Azerbaijan, the West would have been able to stop the war through political pressure. However, Turkey is a powerful country and it has already resisted the United States once. According to him, the West failed in the sense that it did not make more of an effort, such as recognizing Artsakh’s independence.
Tatev Harutyunyan
