Farid Shafiyev: Azerbaijan and Armenia enter "post-negotiation" period on Karabakh

"The meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia on September 24 was formal. Obviously, we have entered the "post-negotiation" period, the onset of which should be expected in the light of the radical and populist statements of the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, sounded over the past few months," Chairman of the Center of Analysis of International Relations Farid Shafiyev said.

According to him, in the light of the murder of an Azerbaijani soldier on the contact line on September 22, that is, on the eve of the scheduled talks, it seems that the Armenian leadership is provoking large-scale military clashes in every way. "It seems that against the backdrop of a deep domestic political crisis in Armenia - it is a question of both the struggle of the Pashinyan party with the previous leadership of the country, and internal party disassembly after the resignation of the leaders of the power structures, and even a split within the Armenian church - the Prime Minister wishes a new war in order to mobilize society to deal with an external enemy. The credit granted to the "revolution" is exhausted, and the international community should not mislead itself in relation to the true intentions of the Armenian leadership hiding behind the slogans of democratization and proclaiming the annexation of the territory of the neighboring state with fait accompli. "

Commenting on what the "post-negotiation" period is fraught with, the head of CAIR noted that negotiations, the object of which was to determine the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan according to the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group, become meaningless, adding that in these conditions you have to think about "other ways to solve the problem”.

"The April 2016 events demonstrated the growing military potential of Azerbaijan and at the same time, pointed out some geopolitical obstacles that could change in the light of the growing economic potential of Azerbaijan and its growing status of a reliable and long-term partner at the regional and global level.

"A country that does not see a point in the negotiations will continue to build up its military potential, economic power, and human resources, including in the field of diplomacy and science. The expanding geography of regional projects, which is being promoted by Azerbaijan amid deepening isolation of Armenia, is another factor that should encourage Yerevan to think about the future of its population and abandon nationalist projects typical for the mid-20th century. These projects ruined their creators in the past, and the same will happen in the future," Shafiyev summarized.