Baku, Azerbaijan, July 10
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
International community is not in a hurry to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Denis Korkodinov, Editor of the Investigative Service of the Interstate socio-political television and radio magazine World Community, said in an interview with Azernews.
"Azerbaijan and Armenia adhere to diametrically opposed positions in the negotiations. Baku is trying to adhere to the real military-political picture that has developed in the Nagorno-Karabakh zone, calling for the restoration of its territorial integrity, while Yerevan argues its position with completely abstract notions about “Armenian rights”," he stressed.
The expert mentioned that the Armenian side considers the criterion of reasonable expectations formulated by international norms about the immediate withdrawal of the Armenian Armed Forces from Nagorno-Karabakh as non-binding, which often leads to escalation of the conflict.
He recalled that one of the key principles of the negotiation process which Baku adheres to is the restoration of its territorial integrity, whilst Yerevan is not ready to follow this principle, based on its own conviction that the illegal regime established in Nagorno-Karabakh was created to repel potential "Azerbaijani aggression".
Korkodinov criticized this argument of the Armenian side since in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh, only Armenia was the source of aggression, while Azerbaijan still exercises its grounded right to defense.
The experience of the negotiation process vividly demonstrated that for almost 25 years Azerbaijan and Armenia have no any progress in resolving the conflict, because Yerevan is still not ready for negotiations. All diplomatic measures to induce Armenia to accept the conditions of Azerbaijan have exhausted, he noted.
He mentioned that the parties to the conflict turned out to be extremely close to the “point of no return” in the negotiations when the language of diplomacy can change into the language of the weapon. Korkodinov stressed that this extremely dangerous phenomenon can be prevented if Yerevan fulfills all the conditions of Baku without preliminary circumstances.
Armenia is trying to give the leadership of the illegal regime created in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan the status of a participant in the negotiation process, he said. "However, this position is erroneous, since the conflict between Baku and Yerevan is exclusively bilateral when the participation of no third party can be foreseen in principle," the expert said.
Commenting on the recent Armenian provocations on the frontline, the expert noted that non-observance of the ceasefire regime is extremely dangerous since it creates the basis for a new wave of regional tensions.
Speaking about agreements reached in Dushanbe in September 2018 between Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders, Korkodinov mentioned that Baku still tries to adhere to the norms of international agreements, including those reached in Dushanbe, unlike Yerevan.
As for Armenia’s intentions to conduct military exercises near the borders of Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan, the expert said that this idea is dictated by the need to divert their own army from solving internal problems.
Korkodinov said due to the complication of relations with the "Karabakh clan" and Robert Kocharyan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan began to fear his own army, where his opponents' positions are quite strong.
"For this reason, Pashinyan instructs the Armenian Armed Forces to participate in various military events so that the army does not fix its angry eyes towards the Armenian PM’s residence. Therefore, it is unlikely that possible Armenian participation in maneuvers near the border with Nakhchivan pursues the goal of a probable attack," he said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
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