The mutual distrust between Baku and Yerevan has not gone away

The authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan have entered into a dispute in absentia over which of them really wants to bring peace to the South Caucasus. Baku claims that they would have been friends with Yerevan no worse than with Tbilisi for a long time if it were not for the Karabakh problem. In turn, the Armenian colleagues insist that the Azerbaijani side is artificially delaying the signing of the peace treaty.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that Baku is ready to begin steps to build trust with Armenia. He said this during a speech at the international forum “Towards a New World Order”, held at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. According to Aliyev, this could have happened earlier, but the dialogue was hampered by the unresolved Karabakh problem, which caused the suffering of Azerbaijanis.

If it were not for this, now Yerevan and Baku could have the same relations as between Baku and Tbilisi, Aliyev believes. In fact, according to Aliyev, Armenia has deprived itself of the opportunity to become an important transit country for Azerbaijani energy resources and transport routes.

At the same time, Aliyev admitted that he could not imagine how the two countries could immediately establish friendly relations. In particular, it is premature to talk about any kind of economic integration. “But we are ready to start taking small steps towards building trust,” he stressed.

At the same time, in his opinion, the active development of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces is “absolutely understandable from a military point of view.” Among other things, he justified this by the fact that Armenia is trying to strengthen its defense capability. “We have restored our territorial integrity and sovereignty, put an end to separatism and taken control of our borders. And this issue is closed for us. But this does not mean that we will simply ignore potential threats and potential danger,” Aliyev said.

The position of the head of Azerbaijan was supported by the chief adviser to the President of Turkey, Cagri Erhan. “Armenia needs to understand that the South Caucasus is an important region through which energy and trade routes pass,” Erhan said. At the same time, he noted that without changing its Constitution, Yerevan will not be able to sign a peace treaty with Baku, as it contains a reference to the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.

Meanwhile, the armed forces of Armenia and Iran conducted joint exercises on the border from April 9 to 10. The parties worked out actions to neutralize attacks by imaginary terrorist groups. Valiollah Mani, Deputy commander of the ground forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran, said that the maneuvers were conducted “in line with sustainable peace” in the South Caucasus.

In addition, the EU observation mission has increased the number of night patrols along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. “Our observers remain in touch around the clock, ensuring a constant presence day and night,” the mission’s press service noted.

The decision was made against the background of increased reports of shootings on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. It is noteworthy that the situation escalated immediately after Baku and Yerevan announced the agreement on the text of the peace treaty.

At the same time, the Armenian Foreign Intelligence Service declined to comment on the information about the accumulation of Azerbaijani troops on the border. “The data is classified. Therefore, we have no right to provide them to you,” the head of the department, Kristine Grigoryan, said in response to a request from Sputnik Armenia.

In turn, Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Hakob Arshakyan met with Chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Pia Kauma on the sidelines of the 150th Assembly of the Interparliamentary Union in Tashkent. He told her that despite the completion of negotiations on the text of the peace agreement, Azerbaijan is putting forward additional preconditions, including the dissolution and termination of the OSCE Minsk Group, and is also looking for artificial reasons to delay its signing. Kauma promised to visit the South Caucasus to promote peace in the region.

“Apparently, Baku is worried that the international community may blame it for the continuation of the conflict, so it makes peacemaking statements. Nevertheless, appealing to compatriots is more significant,” Hrant Mikaelyan, a researcher at the Caucasus Institute, said in an interview with NG.

Political scientist Ilgar Velizade, on the contrary, believes in the possibility of establishing dialogue and reciprocal steps on the part of Baku. But for this, Yerevan must first fulfill the Azerbaijani conditions for signing a peace treaty. After that, diplomatic relations will be established between the two countries and the Azerbaijani authorities will be able to take new steps towards their neighbors.

“At this stage, it is difficult to imagine how the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations can become the same as the Azerbaijani-Georgian ones. Nevertheless, Armenians can use the ties between Azerbaijan and Iran as a guideline. We still have controversial issues in politics, but we have managed to find mutual understanding in the economy as a whole,” Velizade told NG.