(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Qabil Ashirov read more Recently, the Armenian media has been discussing the planned
meeting between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in
Washington, the capital of the United States of America in the
second half of May. Also, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken,
who has initiated the meeting looks remarkably vigorous in his
actions and in his approach to negotiation process.
Besides, not only the West but Europe also seemed to be more
interested to get looped in on the ongoing processes. President of
the European Council Charles Michel recently had several phone
conversations with Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev regarding
the relations between the two countries and the status of the
negotiation process.
The leaking reports also show that European Union officials are
very zealous about holding the Azerbaijan-Armenia summit in
Brussels in the coming weeks. Regarding the issue, political
analyst, Sector head at the Social Research Center Ilyas Huseynov
noted that there is a war going on in the diplomatic field in the
region.
The US and EU intention of being fully involved in processes is
quite tangible. This looks like a war in the diplomatic arena,
which is in particular, about mediation and moderation. We have
witnessed this war between the European Union and Russia for the
past three years. We also observe that the USA is behind the EU,
the pundit said in a comment to Azernews .
“In a number of cases, the USA, as a geopolitical actor,
presents its mediation opportunities to the parties, and the last
time a meeting was held between the US Secretary of State Anthony
Blinken, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev,
and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, within the
framework of the Munich Security Conference,” he added.
Huseynov pointed out that the news about the meeting planned to
be held in Washington with the mediation of the United States is
regarded as a blow to Russia's positions in the South Caucasus.
Russia's interests and presence in the South Caucasus are permanent
and have strong leverage. According to the pundit, Russia's
200-year-old imperial interests in the South Caucasus can be cited
as the reason for this. Despite the Russian-Ukrainian war, the
presence of Russian peacekeepers in the South Caucasus and the
military base No. 102 in Gyumri implies Russia's military
participation in the region.
“Another important issue is that if the 102nd base leaves
Armenia, NATO's expansion to the east may become more intense. As
it is known, Finland became a NATO member against the backdrop of
the Russian-Ukrainian war, and important negotiations regarding
Sweden are being carried out. Turkiye's rightful demands should
also be taken into account here. However, today Russia's borders
with NATO are being observed on a wider scale. That is why, in
order to reduce Russia's influence in the South Caucasus, the
United States intends to join the settlement process here,” the
expert opined.
Touching on the provocation committed by the Armenian armed
forces in the Lachin District yesterday, the political analyst did
not rule out the possibility of a connection between these two
incidents.
“Military provocation took place in the direction of Lachin
district after the information about the meeting of the leaders of
Azerbaijan and Armenia in the second half of May in Washington was
released. I think there is some connection between this provocation
and the news,” he said.
Ilyas Huseynov added that Armenia intends to gain time for
itself by manoeuvring between various geopolitical centers,
prolonging the deadline, and evading responsibility. During the
past three years, all commitments are observed as unfulfilled by
Armenia.
“On a practical level, however, no significant progress is
visible. In Prague and Sochi, Azerbaijan's territorial integrity
sovereignty was officially recognized by Armenia. The parties
expressed their commitment to the UN Charter and the Alma-Ata
Declaration. Later, we see that Armenia acted with territorial
claims against Azerbaijan as well as attempting to illegally
transport mines and ammunition into Azerbaijani territory,” the
pundit added.
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