Upon Aravot Daily’s request to comment on Ilham Aliyev’s statement that Azerbaijan is prepared to establish peace in the region when Armenia recognizes “Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity” and begins the process of delimitation, as well as Nikol Pashinyan’s previous statement about beginning high-level negotiations, political scientist Vigen Hakobyan noted, “I believe that in any case, what Aliyev is stating is some form of an information leak. In other words, some time ago, either directly or indirectly, there were probably some verbal agreements, including a mutual recognition of the borders and a final version of the peace treaty.
What does the recognition of borders and the peace treaty mean when the parties resolve virtually all border or disputed issues and the delimitation and demarcation of the borders takes place, after which the parties recognize each other’s borders and start thinking about a peace treaty and, of course, the establishment of diplomatic relations. If we recall that even a few days after the end of the war, Andranik Kocharyan, who was the chair of the Defense and Security Affairs Committee of the previous National Assembly, announced that it was time to think about concluding a peace treaty with the neighbors.
Such a high-ranking official, who plays an important role in Nikol Pashinyan’s political team, made such a statement, which received a rather sharp response, and to be honest, it was unexpected to make such a statement at such a moment. I think such conversations had already taken place at that time. Usually, when Aliyev has pretensions about various issues, they are first denied by the Armenian authorities, and then it turns out that there is such a discussion. I think that now Aliyev raises the topics that interest him, and there have been verbal agreements on them. I am not claiming that he also raises issues that are of interest to the Armenian side, but they certainly are not talking about such topics.
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As the geopolitical situation is such that it seems that an attempt is being made to consider the issue of demarcation and delimitation, the mutual recognition of borders, and the issue of Artsakh’s status separately. That is, the main geopolitical players want to leave it out of the equation. In response to Pashinyan’s statements, Aliyev is somewhat saying that he is ready to hold such negotiations provided that the issue will not be left out during the discussion of the general peace agreement in case of mutual recognition of the borders. Aliyev considered the recognition of the borders to include Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. In any case, I think that there is a negotiation process going on and the parties are trying to bargain. Each party is drawing its own red lines or the lines that can be talked about and debated with the participation of mediating countries.
Unfortunately, after the war, Armenia is not only no longer the guarantor of Artsakh’s security, but also the protection of Armenia’s borders. Pashinyan seems to be bargaining over who wants to protect Armenia’s borders. He even said that if the CSTO option does not work, the Minsk Group option will be considered. As our country is vulnerable in terms of maintaining its own security, which is even openly spoken about at the level of the country’s leader, bargains like lotteries are being announced somewhere and diplomats have started to spend their holidays in the zone of interest to Armenia.
The Americans made it clear to the Russians that they also have interests in Syunik, and discussions about corridors and communications without the US. Both the US and France are trying to return to the region after the war because they were left out of the process, as the steering wheel remained in the hands of the Russians and the Turks,” the political scientist said.
Gohar Hakobyan
