Baku, Azerbaijan, March 22
By Ilhama Isabalayeva - Trend:
The presidential election will be held in Azerbaijan on April 11 and the pre-election campaign is underway, Azerbaijani political analyst Arzu Naghiyev told Trend March 22.
“At the same time, the current year has also become the year of elections in neighboring countries,” he said. “Russian President Vladimir Putin’s re-election for a six-year term, and in general, holding of elections in the region gives a reason to expect positive steps in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“The abovementioned processes are the main factors, affecting the security in the region,” Naghiyev added. “The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement remains the priority in Azerbaijan’s foreign policy.”
"This is also one of the important issues in the country’s domestic policy,” Naghiyev said.
“Putin’s re-election for a new presidential term is expected to facilitate the process of making certain steps for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”
“I think that important actions related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement must be taken to prevent a new war in the post-election period,” he said. “The processes related to the conflict settlement are directly related to the implementation of big economic projects in the region. In this regards, today Azerbaijan plays a role of corridor in the implementation of big energy projects. The threats posed to the security in the region must be prevented."
“Peace should be established to implement big projects in the region,” Naghiyev said. “First of all, for this purpose, important actions must be taken to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. A mechanism of pressure on Armenia must be created.”
"Both Western and regional countries must understand this,” he said. “The main purpose of Turkey's military operation in Syria’s Afrin district is to fight against terrorism and its significance should be stressed.”
“In this buffer zone, liberated from terrorists, Turkey is creating a solid basis for the implementation of the further economic and political activities, both for itself and regional countries,” Naghiyev said. “Several meetings of leaders of regional countries have been recently held on bilateral, tripartite, and even quadrilateral platforms and this is a gratifying fact.”
“Iranian President Hassan Rouhani intends to visit Azerbaijan in late March,” he said. “All this creates favorable conditions to resolve significant problems. This is one of important conditions for development and establishment of peace in the region. The balanced policy, being carried out by Azerbaijan in this direction, is very effective and worthy positive assessment."