Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev does not want peace with Armenia, although he states the opposite. The attempted provocative advance in the area near the Yeraskh settlement in Armenia, as a result of which the Armenian side suffered casualties and the non-return of Armenian prisoners of war, proves the opposite, says Azerbaijani expert Taron Hovhannisyan, emphasizing what is behind Azerbaijan's actions.
“Armenia must renounce Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and refuse to interfere in the fate of Artsakh, that is, accept the Azerbaijani ultimatum that the Artsakh conflict is supposedly settled and no question can be raised,” says Taron Hovhannisyan, Orbeli Center analyst.
According to Hovhannisyan, another reason for Azerbaijan's aggressive actions is the compulsion to give Azerbaijan a corridor to Nakhichevan via Zangezur.
“In other words, not to implement what happened in the November 9 agreements, to unblock the regional infrastructure, but to fulfill only Azerbaijan's wish to provide road and railway connections with Nakhichevan through Syunik over which Armenia will not have control,” Taron Hovhannisyan says.
The agenda of Armenia and Azerbaijan is very different, Azerbaijani expert fixed stating that Armenia will not renounce the status of Artsakh, nor will it make concessions that undermine the territorial integrity of Armenia. In these conditions, Hovannisyan considers it pointless to talk about a peace agreement between the parties.
“There can be no question of a peace agreement at the moment, because for peace all the parties involved must be willing and ready to make concessions, and the actions of the President of Azerbaijan show that Azerbaijan is not only not ready, but also is not willing to,” Taron Hovhannisyan says.
Yesterday's shooting incident on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border was followed by another aggressive statement by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that Zangezur, Shevan and Yerevan are the lands of their ancestors and that all refugees will return to their homes. The Azerbaijani leader insisted that Armenia could face a new war if it did not agree to a peace agreement. Tatevik Hayrapetyan, MP from ‘My Step’ faction, also touched upon the topic in Armenian Parliament, saying that by saying ‘Azerbaijan’ he meant ‘trophy parks’, aspirations towards the territorial integrity of Armenia.
“I would like to ask our international partners not to pay tribute to Aliyev's greed, not to take actions and not to utter texts that can justify war, aggression, because this is a threat not only to the Armenian people but to all civilized humanity,” Tatevik Hayrapetyan, Member of ‘My Step’ faction of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia says.
In this context, it is noteworthy that the ambassadors of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries did not visit Shushi, which the Azerbaijani side described as a ‘demarche’.
“They are trying to return the issue to the negotiation process, which they stated, and on the contrary, it would be illogical if the Minsk Group co-chairing countries also took part in the show, because they declare that the conflict is not resolved,” Taron Hovhannisyan says.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry also referred to the recent aggressive actions of Azerbaijan, emphasizing that the behavior of the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan may lead to further aggravation of the situation, for which the Azerbaijani authorities are fully responsible.
