http://www.turan.az-Ilham Aliyev and Nikolai Pashinyan exchange views in Prague on October 6, 2022
Mehman Aliyev-The meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia convened on the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the Forum of Leaders of the European Political Community (ENP) turned out to be shrouded in secrecy at the end.
Note that the meeting was extraordinary, and was the result of the bloody military tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia that culminated in the fighting on the undelimited border of the two countries on September 12-13, which claimed the lives of more than 200 soldiers from both sides.
This fifth meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, mediated by European partners, was scheduled to take place in November; however, it was moved forward due to extraordinary border circumstances.
In Prague, the leaders’ meetings were held in the Pashinyan-Aliyev formats with the participation of Turkish President Erdogan – Macron-Michel-Aliyev-Pashinyan, Erdogan-Pashinyan.
No agenda was disclosed. However, first of all, if we take into account that this European meeting is a continuation of the fourth meeting held on August 31 in Brussels under the patronage of the President of the European Council Charles Michel, then it may be concluded that aspects arising from the peace treaty, humanitarian, communication and border issues were on the negotiating table. All these issues were then announced as agreed and accepted for action.
Second, it is impossible not to ignore the fact that despite the agreements reached on August 31, two weeks later the world witnessed an escalation of the conflict between the two countries. This suggests that the negotiations have reached an impasse. The Armenian community calls on Pashiyanan not to follow Aliyev’s lead and avoid signing the peace with Azerbaijan without resolving the status of the Armenian-populated territory of Karabakh.
In turn, former Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian noted that Pashinyan, first of all, should avoid being forced to set specific deadlines for signing a peace treaty, and then try by all means to go beyond the agenda dictated and imposed by Azerbaijan.
This statement was made after Pashinyan stated in the parliament on October 5 that he takes responsibility for the implementation of the peace agenda.
“I confirm that we adhere to the peace agenda and I confirm that what I said in my last interview – I take responsibility for the implementation of the peace agenda. According to this formula, I expect the support of the parliamentary majority and the people to implement this agenda,” Pashinyan said.
Also, he stated that he “sees the road and is ready to move along it.”
So far, owing to the lack of traditional post-negotiation statements, we cannot say that Pashinyan’s statement was put into practice during meetings with Aliyev and Erdogan.
The first hopeful revelation made after the meetings was Erdogan’s statement is as follows: “We had a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan. I sincerely believe that we will be able to achieve our goal of full normalization on the basis of good-neighborly relations in our region.”
A little later, after the quadrilateral meeting, Aliyev told the press: “Now the peace process has accelerated… the ministers will soon meet for the second time. We invited the working groups of the two countries to get together and work on the preparation of the text of the peace agreement within a few days. That is our intention.”
The official statement of the organizers of the meetings has not yet been made….