After the meeting of Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in Tbilisi, the official messages of the two countries gave rise to a number of questions. In the press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, it is noted that “the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan” was emphasized. In addition, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, referring to the humanitarian issues, emphasized “the importance of finding out the fate of about 4,000 missing Azerbaijanis.” And in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, there is no mention of the fact that the Armenian side emphasized the importance of the withdrawal of the Azerbaijani troops that invaded the sovereign territory of Armenia. In this regard, in a conversation with Aravot.am, former member of the National Assembly and Azerbaijani affairs expert Tatevik Hayrapetyan said, “If we talk about the message spread by the Armenian side, then, I think, an attempt was made to emphasize that the Armenian side spoke about the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, that is, it claimed that this issue is on the agenda, contrary to Azerbaijan’s claims and the second clause, it refers to humanitarian issues, where both the release of prisoners of war and general return are discussed in general terms.
On the Azerbaijani side, there are slightly different wordings. In particular, they derive from Aliyev’s speech the day before that meeting, where the Azerbaijani president emphasized that the Armenian side is not fulfilling its obligations, related to the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces on November 9. Moreover, this is a complete lie, because in one of the reports of the same crisis group, it is clearly stated that the last servicemen of the Armenian side have already left Nagorno-Karabakh, from Artsakh. International reports also speak in favor of it. And along with that, in the message spread by the Azerbaijani side, it was remarkable that when the Armenian side talked about humanitarian issues, trying to emphasize the issue of prisoners of war, they started to put a new thesis into circulation.
Previously, they talked about the issue of demining maps, but that topic is now considered closed. The Armenian side announced that it had given all the maps and Azerbaijan, although it was dissatisfied with the results, but now they are talking about those lost as a result of the first Artsakh war. Moreover, they mention a number: 4,000 people. This is a new propaganda thesis and the Azerbaijani side is putting it into circulation intensively. In terms of the adopted political line, they try to come up with a new thesis for any of our questions, so that the Armenian side tries to say or not say something related to that thesis. It is intensively included in the agenda of the international community. This is unfortunate.”
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According to Tatevik Hayrapetyan, talking about the 4,000 missing persons of the first war is an absurd phenomenon. “I’m actually surprised, and if you pay attention, during the recent Charles Michel-Pashinyan meetings, the fate of those missing due to the previous war was also discussed, but no specific number was mentioned. I don’t know to what extent the Armenian side or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is studying this thesis or how it is going to prevent its further spread, but this is what the Azerbaijani side is trying to dictate to the international community. Unfortunately, the step back regarding the presence of the Azerbaijani side in our territory has not yet been made. When the Armenian side, the same Prime Minister Pashinyan, stubbornly announced that they would not proceed with the border demarcation and demarcation process until the troops are brought back to their starting positions, they quietly backed away from that issue. We are constantly retreating from our positions, Azerbaijan is continuously putting new theses into circulation.”
According to Tatevik Hayrapetyan, the agenda adopted by Nikol Pashinyan and his team is a meaningless agenda. “If they talk about peace, I don’t know if they will open an era or promise people peace for a decade or two weeks, but it must have content. Azerbaijan also says that we are preparing for peace, even the president of Azerbaijan spoke about the era of peace in one of his last speeches, but there is a content underneath that implies the end of Armenian statehood. In other words, if he demands that we give up Artsakh, and if he has territorial ambitions for the Syunik region, recently “academic” circles have started to justify his ambitions for Yerevan in a very aggressive way. Moreover, if in our country the academic circles were involved in revealing these falsifications, they never became a part of politics. First of all, it is directed to them by a political order.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
