Azerbaijan's patience not unlimited: on demarcation of borders and Armenia's attempts to play for time

(MENAFN- AzerNews)

By Trend

The situation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border in the direction of the Kalbajar district has recently escalated again, Trend reports.

On January 11, an Azerbaijani serviceman Ayaz Nazarov was killed as a result of a provocation committed by the Armenian armed forces.

The military-political leadership of Armenia, which committed another bloody provocation instead of taking steps to normalize relations between the two countries, is directly responsible for the escalation of the situation in the region.

The periodic escalation of the situation on the border shows that it's necessary to resolve the issue of demarcation of the borders between Azerbaijan and Armenia without delay.

As President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview to local TV channels on January 12, Azerbaijan has actually presented peace agenda to Armenia and made very clear proposals on delimitation, and if it happens, then demarcation.

The head of state stressed that the Armenian side must make a choice, the right choice.

'I have said that our benevolent behavior does not have to be eternal, and these proposals do not have to remain on the table forever. If they do not want to recognize our territorial integrity, then we will not recognize their territorial integrity. We have perhaps a hundred times more grounds not to recognize the territorial integrity of Armenia than they have not to recognize our territorial integrity,” the president said. 'Because everyone already knows this, and so does the world community, that in November 1920 our historical lands of Zangazur, as well as Goycha, were severed from us and annexed to Armenia. The city of Yerevan was ceded to Armenia on 29 May 1918. '

'So there are many factors for us, as they say, not to recognize the territorial integrity of Armenia. Nevertheless, we are ready for this for the sake of future peace and the establishment of relations between the countries. But I cannot guarantee that things will be the same six months later. If they do not want it, well, then we will see what happens,' President Ilham Aliyev stated.

According to the head of the Center for Strategic Analysis of the Institute of Innovative Development of Russia, well-known Russian political scientist Andrei Ivanov, everyone understands that the situation on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains tense.

'Unfortunately, it's likely to remain like this way for quite a long time. There will be various provocations and they are inevitable because this is always the subject of political bargaining. Any provocation is investigated very hard, each side can say that it's right, and complicate any negotiations,' Ivanov said.

'For example, if some major agreements are planned and a provocation occurs, then all attention is already drawn to it, or, at least, an attempt is made to pay all attention to such a provocation,' he noted.

The Russian expert said that it's necessary to demarcate the borders between Azerbaijan and Armenia as soon as possible since there are all legal mechanisms for this.

'The statement signed in 2020 between Baku, Yerevan, and Moscow [following the Second Karabakh War] is recognized by everyone. None of the parties will claim the legality of this decision, because it has entered into force,' he said.

'Then the question will arise how to implement this decision as soon as possible, and the longer it's delayed, the greater is the likelihood of a wide variety of provocations,' he added.

Another Russian political scientist, deputy director of the Russian Institute for Political Studies, Darya Grevtsova noted that such incidents on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia were predicted by many experts.

'This is indeed no coincidence, and largely depends on the issue of demarcation and delimitation of borders,' Grevtsova said. 'Perhaps the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan wants to resolve this issue, but internal forces, other politicians that influence him, don't allow him to do this. Therefore, the issue is dragging on. Perhaps he is afraid of some radical groups or revanchist sentiments.'

'On the other hand, he may simply not know where to start, what approaches to use, or can't develop his own vision of the situation - where exactly Armenia would like to start in issues of demarcation and delimitation of borders. Armenia will delay this process until such road maps are developed in this issue,' she also noted.

Grevtsova added that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently had a telephone conversation.

'I guess Vladimir Putin once again reminded Pashinyan that it's necessary to return to the issues of demarcation and delimitation of borders so that such incidents don't happen again, and such incidents, unfortunately, will repeat until this issue is resolved,' concluded the expert.

The Azerbaijani side has stated its position and is ready to start the process of creating a working group on the delimitation and demarcation of the border with Armenia. Armenia must abandon its destructive position. Otherwise, it will find itself in an even worse position.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

MENAFN17012022000195011045ID1103548577