Today.Az » Politics » Nikol Pashinyan's London provocation: he is driven by fear
19 July 2024 [16:15] - Today.Az
By Akbar Hasanov, Day.AZ
The first plenary session of the IV Summit of the European Political Community took place in London today. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is taking part in the event. The Head of our State held a warm meeting with President of the Swiss Confederation Viola Amerd, President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev, President of Serbia Alexander Vucic and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban. Later, he exchanged views with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. There have been and will be a number of other meetings between the President of Azerbaijan and his foreign colleagues.
But there will be no meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan among them. According to the head of the Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, Assistant to the President Hikmet Hajiyev, the proposal to hold such a meeting was made by the United Kingdom, which is hosting the summit of the European Political Community. According to him, it was proposed that it be held in the format of a meeting between the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia at the Munich Security Conference.
However, the Armenian side refused to do so. Armenia's refusal in Azerbaijan is rightly and reasonably regarded as a manifestation of its intention to move away from dialogue and promote a peaceful agenda. In addition to Hikmet Hajiyev, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov also stated this. Naturally, the Armenian side, in its usual manner, tried to shift everything from a sore head to a healthy one again, denying the absolutely obvious fact that it disrupted the meeting between Ilham Aliyev and Nikol Pashinyan.
To make sure that the Armenian side is again lying primitively, it is enough to recall what took place at the Munich Security Conference in February. Then the trilateral meeting between President Ilham Aliyev and Pashinyan, with the assistance of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, really quickly turned into a bilateral one. The same format was planned in London. But Pashinyan was simply afraid of his next fiasco.
Let me remind you that any public controversy between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia demonstrates the huge intellectual gap between them. And this has always been emphasized by all foreign experts, including even Armenian ones. So at the February Munich Security Conference, the head of our state voiced exactly the same position that he has always voiced - Azerbaijan stands for peace in the region, considering bilateral contacts between Baku and Yerevan a priority.
The President of Azerbaijan sent a clear message then - no one should even try to replace the mediation between Baku and Yerevan with support for Armenia. He repeated the same idea during a meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. At that time, the President of Azerbaijan clearly stated that de facto peace had already been established in the region and Azerbaijani-American bilateral relations should develop on their own outside the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
This position of official Baku has not changed one iota. But what is the position of official Yerevan? I should immediately note that it changes so often that it is difficult to understand when and what Armenia wants at this particular moment. But it is obvious that Nikol Pashinyan's statements have repeatedly contradicted not only common sense, but also his previous statements. He has too often been transformed from a "war hawk" into a dove of peace." And everyone has seen this in Armenia.
It was he who made the 44-day war inevitable by staging a provocation in the Tovuz direction in July 2020, as well as promoting the thesis that "Karabakh is Armenia, period." He was the one who lied to his people throughout the 44-day war about its progress. He also chickened out and chose not to appear on the television screen when it was time to sign the trilateral statement of November 10, 2020. Over the next few years, he continued to falsely deny that Armenia was still financing and arming the Karabakh junta.
Everything secret eventually became clear, and all Pashinyan's "tricks with his ears" turned out to be useless - Azerbaijan conducted an anti-terrorist operation last September and fully restored its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Only after that, Pashinyan began to pose as a "dove of peace." But this role is difficult for him. Because Azerbaijan, which has always taken a clear and unambiguous position, pointed out that the obstacle to signing a peace agreement is changes to the Constitution of Armenia.
We are talking about the wording contained in the Declaration of Independence of Armenia dated August 23, 1990, which contradicts the principle of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. "The Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR, expressing the united will of the people of Armenia... implementing the right of nations to free self-determination, based on the joint Resolution of the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR and the National Council of Nagorno-Karabakh dated December I, 1989 "On the reunification of the Armenian SSR and Nagorno-Karabakh"... proclaims: the beginning of the process of establishing independent statehood ...", it says.
Armenia still constitutionally relies on the decision of the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR of December 1, 1989, which long ago lost its legal force due to the abolition of the Armenian SSR and the self-dissolution of the Karabakh junta. And Armenia does not want to change its position. At the same time, according to a recent survey conducted by the Gallup International research Center, 80.3% of respondents considered that the Constitution of Armenia should remain unchanged.
That is, Pashinyan is afraid again. He understands that Azerbaijan's demands are fair, but they are opposed by the citizens of Armenia. Which may well sweep away the current Armenian government. And that is why official Yerevan is delaying negotiations, as well as banally running away from them, as it happened now in London. Of course, Pashinyan and his team are also being advised and guided by external forces that are eager for a new war in the region. That is why they are arming Armenia, providing financial assistance to it, and promising political cover. It is important for these external forces to have a conflict that can be "resolved" for a long time. But all these steps by Armenia and its patrons are useless. Azerbaijan is ready for any development of events. Both for peace and for war.
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