On December 15, Azerbaijani affairs expert Anzhela Elibegova spoke at the Hayeli press club about the dangers of unblocking communications, propaganda for the era of peace, and the statement made the day before that Azerbaijan and Turkey are not dangerous for Armenia.
“It is not a cause, it is a consequence, and one of the stages of the process. We have been hearing such statements from Turkey about the positive signals of the Armenian-Turkish dialogue for months after the war. It is true that after these positive signals, Turkey and Azerbaijan set a number of preconditions for the people of the Republic of Armenia, the Diaspora, as well as Artsakh, but they do not tell us about that. They prefer to only speak about some positive signals. Meanwhile, the real nail is in the content of the preconditions.
What does Turkey demand from us? It says that we should close the issue of the Genocide, sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, and recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan by saying that Artsakh is part of Azerbaijan. Then, Turkey can open dialogue with us, and after opening the border, they might help us, or they might not. Turkey’s approach is as follows: it states that it coordinates all its steps in the region with Azerbaijan. That is, they act together. One of the results is the 3 + 3 format, and now the 3 + 2 format. For years, Turkey and Azerbaijan have tried to move the negotiation process from the Minsk Group to a new format. After the war, they managed to create a parallel platform, where Turkey would be present as a moderator of the Armenian-Azerbaijani processes. In such circumstances, to speak of any positive moves is not only unrealistic, but also dulls the public’s vigilance and self-defense instinct that there is no danger from Turkey and Azerbaijan. This can be considered as a presumption of madness. The public is constantly told through various media and officials that this is an era of peace, and that Azerbaijan and Turkey are no longer a threat.
To counter this threat, we try to recall what happened just a year ago, to present with facts the steps Azerbaijan and Turkey have taken against Armenia during this year-long war and continuous provocations and aggression, including against the civilian population and taking new prisoners. Moreover, offering Armenia to open all communications is not a manifestation of good will on the part of Turkey and Azerbaijan, it is not out of love for us, it is not to do us a favor. It is to solve their geopolitical problems. And if we leave the format aside and focus on the content, what do Azerbaijan and Turkey actually tell us? We are obviously told: they will not allow Armenia to develop economically enough to be able to restore the army and the territorial integrity of Artsakh and liberate the occupied territories. They plan for Armenia to always remain in a weak, compromising state and to be controllable,” she said.
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Ashot Hakobyan
