In the statement issued by Charles Michel regarding the results of the Nikol Pashinyan-Ilham Aliyev meeting held on August 31 in Brussels with the mediation of the European Council President Charles Michel, the following was pointed out among others: “We agree to intensify substantive work on the advancement of the peace treaty regulating interstate relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and have instructed the foreign ministers to meet within a month to work on draft texts.”
In a conversation with Aravot.am, addressing the question of what “peace agreement” means and implies from Azerbaijan’s point of view, Taron Hovhannisyan, an expert of the Orbeli center (in the photo), first emphasizes, “Judging by Azerbaijan’s statements, they imagine or want to have some kind of “peace treaty” in which Artsakh is not included. From the beginning, they consider that the fate of Artsakh is predetermined and is a part of Azerbaijan, without any status, and that the issue of Artsakh does not exist, it does not even exist as a geographical term, and it remains to solve the Armenia-Azerbaijan issues. This is, of course, absurd, because it is not possible to decide with their statements whether the Artsakh issue exists or not.”
According to Taron Hovhannisyan, from the point of view of Armenia’s interests, there cannot be such a peace agreement that does not include all problems and issues.
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“And the cornerstone of all issues is the Artsakh problem. The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is not limited to Artsakh, but leaving any aspect of the conflict aside is unacceptable. It means that the conflict continues to exist. Until there is a theoretical and practical full settlement of all problems, it is not possible to talk about a peace treaty. It cannot be a peace treaty. If any agreement is signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it is called a peace agreement, but Azerbaijan continues to show aggression and vandalism towards the Armenian population and cultural heritage of Artsakh, then it cannot be called a peace agreement. There may be some document, then without prerequisites, it will not work and will lead to new escalations in the future. Therefore, the problem is not to sign a document, but that it should be based on real grounds.”
According to Taron Hovhannisyan, the level of Armenian hatred in Azerbaijan is one of the most serious problems. “If this does not get any settlement, then it is not possible to imagine “comprehensive peace” between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Even more so, if we take into account that it is beneficial for the Azerbaijani government to heat up the wave of anti-Armenianism.”
Luiza Sukiasyan
