Is the creation of a "buffer zone" a new policy for Baku to protect Azerbaijani territory?

For the safe residence of thousands  of people returning to the liberated lands of Azerbaijan neighboring Armenia, as well as for the safe service of our soldiers on the border, Azerbaijan needs to create a "buffer zone" on the territory of Armenia, political scientists, Uzeyir Jafarov, Elchin Mirzabeyli, Ilgar Velizade, Farhad Mammadov, Rizvan Huseynov and other experts in Baku. A map compiled by the historian R. Huseynov with the designation of a "buffer security zone" on the territory of Armenia, which appeared as a result of the one-day September war in 2022, has been circulated on the social network.

The Armenian media claim that as a result of the hostilities on September 12-13, 2022, the Azerbaijani army occupied more than 100 square kilometers of new land in the region, the border was not demarcated and took under fire control the territory of Armenia.

The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan called the information about the occupied Armenian territories "absurd". At the same time, the Defense Ministry clarifies: "In response to the provocation from the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces are taking local countermeasures and neutralizing the enemy's firing points."

Today's statement by the director of the fourth department of the CIS countries of the Russian Foreign Ministry Denis Gonchar that the European Union "does not even hide the fact that the main goal is to oust Russia from the Transcaucasus." Brussels is trying to wedge itself into Moscow's tripartite work with Baku and Yerevan, pointing to Moscow's agreement with the results of the hostilities of September 12-13. Moscow did not condemn Azerbaijan for military actions, and the CSTO limited itself to the decision to send CSTO Secretary General St. Zas to the region.

Georgian political scientist Tengiz Ablotia, in an interview with Turan, did not agree with the version that the EU supports the anti-Azerbaijani policy of Yerevan. "The view that the EU and the US are pushing Yerevan towards an uncompromising position in negotiations with Baku is a classic conspiracy theory. The reason for Pashinyan's stubbornness is the public opinion of Armenia, which for decades has made Turkish and Azerophobia the cornerstone of not just its ideology, but the very existence of Armenia "They cannot agree to caravans of trucks with Azerbaijani license plates on their territory. This is unthinkable for them, impossible, this is a rejection of Armenians as an idea," Ablotia noted.

However, there are many statements from US and French officials about the need to resume the work of the OSCE Minsk Group, specifically to discuss the "status of Nagorno-Karabakh." For this reason, Pashinyan does not agree to sign a Peace Treaty with Azerbaijan, and this is the main reason for the recent escalation that led to the emergence of a "security belt" on the other side of the border.

Azerbaijani experts, explaining the expediency of creating a buffer zone on the territory of Armenia to ensure the security of the Azerbaijani people, recall the "security belt" around Nagorno-Karabakh, which existed for 28 years. Public figures in Baku demand that the authorities create a "buffer zone" in Armenia in order to protect our territory from Armenian military provocations.

Earlier, in February of this year, Konstantin Zatulin, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, reminded the Armenians of the "belt". In an interview with the Public Television of Armenia, answering the question of how events will develop after the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, he drew parallels with the first Karabakh war. "The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict broke out and the confrontation  of self-defense forces of Nagorno-Karabakh with the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan began; after some time, winning victories in the 90s, they reached the borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and, as a result of all this, captured a number of regions in the neighborhood of Azerbaijan. Seven regions," Zatulin said.

"Everywhere and always in the negotiation process, defending the idea of self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh, (Armenians - Ed.) did not hide the fact that this buffer zone is necessary in order to reach a final settlement. We know how things developed there. Not as the Armenians wanted. But in any case,  this is their position for  more than 20 years, (Armenians - Ed"), Zatulin noted.

"Buffer zones" were created by Russia on the territory of Georgia, for the same purpose Putin is waging war in Ukraine. Israel created buffer zones for the safety of Jews along the border with Egypt and in the Gaza Strip. By bringing Turkish troops into Syria, Ankara created a buffer zone there to counter the attacks of Kurdish terrorists against Turkey, 30 km wide. One of Turkey's main tasks in Syria is to secure its southern borders.

Azerbaijan uses a method of protecting its borders - a buffer zone, tested by other countries, among which is Armenia, military expert Uzeyir Jafarov noted.