In recent weeks, a highly politicized debate has elevated the Lachin road all the way to the UN Security Council. The ongoing drama shouldn't overshadow a simple, basic reality: the most urgent priority for Armenia and Azerbaijan should be a lasting, sustainable peace agreement based on international law, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Elin Suleymanov, said in his article published on Comment Central, Report informs.
The ambassador said that critics of Azerbaijan’s decision to establish a border checkpoint on the Lachin road, which lies at the center of the latest quarrel, argue against international law: “As the Soviet Union collapsed, Armenia invaded and occupied the ethnically mixed region, as well as several adjacent territories—almost one-fifth of Azerbaijan in total. In the process, it expelled the hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis that lived there. The aim was to annex the occupied lands to Armenia – despite four UN Security Council Resolutions calling for the immediate withdrawal of their forces.”
Ambassador Suleymanov also said in the article that after three decades of an unresolved conflict, Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity in 2020: “In accordance with the November 2020 joint arrangement signed by leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia after the 44-days war, a limited Russian peacekeeping contingent was temporarily stationed in Karabakh. Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has publicly stated that he will recognize Karabakh as a sovereign part of Azerbaijan. A peace agreement will involve mutual recognition and the delimitation of borders. Establishing a viable border control regime is an indispensable part of the process.”
According to him, Azerbaijan has checkpoints operating along its perimeter with all its neighbors, including its closest partners and allies Georgia and Türkiye: “Why should the border with Armenia be an exception? That is not to say that peace will be easy. After 30 years of living apart, the reintegration of the region into Azerbaijan will take patience. So too will the resettlement of the refugees from the 1990s conflict who yearn to return home, especially given the enormity of the problem of landmines planted by Armenia in Azerbaijan. But if we both focus on building a peaceful, prosperous South Caucasus, we can create a future story that encompasses both Azerbaijanis and Armenians, rather than one at the expense of the other.”