Elchin Amirbayov: Armenians playing for time, trying to consolidate status quo

The Armenian leadership is artificially delaying the negotiation process and deliberately evading the fulfillment of their earlier obligations with one goal - to win time and consolidate the current status quo that has developed in the region, according to an article published today in the French newspaper L'Opinion about the situation around the Lachin road, Report informs.

"The goal of the Armenian side .... is to win time as much as possible and consolidate the current status quo," writes the author of the article, Jean-Dominique Merchet, quoting Elchin Amirbayov, Representative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan for Special Assignments.

Armenian separatists blocked the Aghdam-Khankandi road this week in order not to let a convoy with flour sent by the Azerbaijani authorities into the settlements of Karabakh populated by Armenians, Merchet wrote. They explain this behavior by the unwillingness to recognize the sovereignty of Azerbaijan over these territories.

Baku, in turn, considers the politicization of the issue unacceptable and rejects any discrimination in relation to various routes for supplying the population with food and other essential goods. Azerbaijan also declared its readiness to ensure the opening of the Lachin road after the road through Agdam is unblocked, the author writes.

"In the absence of concrete progress in the negotiations on a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the risk of a military confrontation is increasing," Elchin Amirbayov said.