On November 17, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received the delegation headed by the European Union Special Envoy for Eastern Partnership Dirk Schübel. During the meeting, Ilham Aliyev, in addition to Azerbaijan-EU relations, also referred to Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.
• “They say they recognize our territory and sovereignty. This is not only talked about but also signed in Prague and Sochi. This means the sovereignty of our entire territory. We all understand what sovereignty is. At the same time, they want to include the issues related to the Armenian minority in Azerbaijan in the peace agreement. That will not happen. It is impossible. We will not agree to this.”
• “We are ready to talk with the people who live in Karabakh and want to live there. We are ready for it. By the way, this process has started. If there was no intervention from some of the countries I just mentioned, i.e. from outside, and there were no attempts to stop the process, I think the process could have been more dynamic. But this has nothing to do with Pashinyan and his government. As I already said, there should be a consensus between Azerbaijan, the European Union, the United States, and Russia, that is, between those countries and structures that Azerbaijan considers to be able to help in this matter.
If we compare the recent rhetoric of the President of Azerbaijan and the representatives of the RA de facto administration, we will see that the parties agree on several issues. For example, the absence of a reference to Nagorno Karabakh in the so-called “peace treaty”.
To remind: on October 14, Armen Grigoryan, the de-facto Secretary of the RA Security Council, stated in an interview with the “CIVILNET” news agency: “Now we are trying to separate the Nagorno-Karabakh issue from the peace treaty process, but guarantees are needed for that. Without guarantees, it will not be possible not to reflect it in the peace agreement. If Armenia sees that there are such guarantees and discussions taking place between Stepanakert and Baku, and they are taking place within the framework of international community participation and international guarantees, then we will move on without mentioning Nagorno Karabakh in the peace treaty.”
As it becomes clear from this statement, the de facto authorities of RA are ready to leave Artsakh alone face-to-face with Azerbaijan in exchange for some unclear and unstable guarantees. However, if the de-facto authorities, in the person of the de-facto PSC Secretary Armen Grigoryan, claim that they will leave the Artsakh issue out of the treaty “in case of the presence of international guarantees”, then the head of a hostile state openly declares that the issue is simply resolved. and Azerbaijan is not going to discuss any issue related to the rights and security of the Artsakh Armenians with the de facto authorities of the Republic of Armenia, but it is allegedly ready to discuss it with the Armenians of Artsakh. Now the destructive thesis of direct negotiations between Baku and Stepanakert is also being advanced by the de facto authorities, leaving Artsakh face-to-face with a hostile state. However, it is obvious that Azerbaijan is not going to discuss any rights and security issues with the Artsakh Armenians, and from the moment the de facto authorities sign the capitulation agreement, in which there is no word about Artsakh, the issue of the future of Artsakh and the Armenians of Artsakh will be closed once and for all.
Click to view the article in Armenian.
