In a speech delivered at the congress of Azerbaijan’s ruling party, Ilham Aliyev essentially issued a threat to Nikol Pashinyan. In particular, he said that Armenia’s “former authorities” were, of course, criminal and should be punished, but that it was wrong to blame only the former authorities. “Armenia’s current authorities have made territorial claims against us, tried to insult the Azerbaijani people, and touched upon the dignity of the Azerbaijani people with their inappropriate and unfounded statements,” he also said, adding that the Azerbaijani people should not forget this.
What has ruffled Ilham Aliyev so much that he has suddenly decided to take a swipe at Nikol Pashinyan, accusing him of allegedly insulting the dignity of Azerbaijanis and saying that this is not something to be forgotten? Or, by threatening Nikol Pashinyan in this way, is Ilham Aliyev demanding that he be more persistent and more active in neutralizing the dignity of the Armenian people? Especially given that his aide, Hikmet Hajiyev, has also stated that Armenia’s authorities should “step up efforts to prepare society for peace.”
Baku clearly has some doubts about Pashinyan. This does not mean that they suspect him of deceiving or misleading them, or of putting a soft pillow under their heads. It is possible that they doubt whether Pashinyan can carry Armenia’s subjugation to Azerbaijan’s demands and long-term strategic objectives through to the end. Moreover, Azerbaijan’s doubts emerged immediately after Armenia’s parliamentary election, and this was manifested a week later in Hajiyev’s visit to Armenia, just hours before the official election results were announced.
On the other hand, it cannot be ruled out that it is Azerbaijan itself that is in a state of panic. In other words, there are power centers that have doubts about Azerbaijan itself. Europeans, for example, who made considerable efforts to serve Artsakh to Aliyev on a “Brussels platter,” are now apparently dissatisfied with the degree of Azerbaijan’s “gratitude.” Europe is going through a rather difficult energy and financial period, and perhaps it expects more from Azerbaijan than Baku is currently delivering. It is possible that, by escalating its rhetoric toward Armenia, Aliyev is also threatening to overturn the table that Europe has been steadily setting over the past three or four years.
Hakob BADALYAN
