Everything was positive until Azerbaijan refused to participate in the meetings in Washington. “Even though Azerbaijan gave an incomprehensible reason, after that, it actively began to carry out operations on the border in the form of military aggression and local clashes,” commented military expert Turkologist Karen Hovhannisyan in a conversation with Aravot.am, referring to the border tension. According to him, there is no mutual understanding between Armenia and Azerbaijan because the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations had entered a relatively active phase, and an unprecedented number of mediators were included in it. “Everyone wanted to solve the problem. The Russian Federation, the West, and Brussels made active efforts to ensure that meetings would occur in any case and that there would be a dialogue.
According to the expert, Azerbaijan’s goal is to abort all verbal agreements reached so far because, in any case, their full interest is not reflected in them. “And the total benefit for Azerbaijan and Turkey is exclusively the infamous Zangezur Corridor, which both Turkey and Azerbaijan aspire to.”
Turkologist Karen Hovhannisyan
Karen Hovhannisyan responded to our observation that the “Zangezur Corridor” is on the agenda of the Russian-Azerbaijani discussions. “Just judging by the information coming from open sources, the Zangezur Corridor is not in the discourse of the Russian-Azerbaijani negotiations. There is a Zangezur Corridor in Azerbaijani speech; in Russian speech, there is a term for unblocking roads. And there, the emphasis is on who controls those roads. The Russian Federation has openly stated that it depends on the RA; if the RA wants the Russian Federation to carry out border guard activities, it will do so; if not, no.
Meanwhile, the Republic of Armenia has said many times that the relevant bodies of the Republic of Armenia will perform this function in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia according to the laws of the Republic of Armenia.” According to Karen Hovhannisyan, Azerbaijani lobbying works very well in this matter. “One after another, they say that Russia or the West agrees. Erdogan recently announced that Iran disagrees. But in fact, all these are propaganda and diplomatic tricks. Armenia is the one who disagree the most here.”
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Karen Hovhannisyan answered our question: if the negotiations are postponed, Azerbaijan is becoming more active on the border, so what developments can we expect in the coming days? “There is an unwritten law in the history of conflicts; if diplomats are silent, they start firing weapons. If diplomacy is silent, negotiations stop, we have to wait for the escalation of military operations. Whether they will be, local clashes or a large-scale clash is no longer essential. The problem is that we are returning to where we reached this point through negotiations: again, Armenian hatred and ambitions to claim the territories of the Republic of Armenia.
We asked if there are any prerequisites for the resumption of negotiations. The military expert answered: “I think it is not in Azerbaijan’s interest to get involved in the negotiation process at this stage because all mediating parties accept that the sovereign territory of Armenia is not subject to encroachment, which is not in the interests of Azerbaijan. That’s why I consider it unlikely that Azerbaijan can again participate in negotiations with such great intensity.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
