Return to the 1991 year

The Prague statement refers to the fundamental Alma-Ata Declaration, signed on December 21, 1991 by the heads of the former Soviet republics (with the exception of the Baltic states), which approved the Belovezhskaya agreements on the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Declaration recognized the independence and territorial integrity of the newly formed states within their borders, which were part of the USSR.

However, at the time of signing the declaration, an undeclared war between Azerbaijan and Armenia was already flaring up, and Yerevan did not give up its claims to Nagorno-Karabakh. These claims, made openly in 1987, resulted in the displacement of a million internally displaced persons and refugees, causing much death and destruction on both sides. Both young independent states were set back decades in their development.

The Prague statement did not mention Nagorno-Karabakh, from which it follows that it stands out as an independent direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani dialogue, which, apparently, the parties have already reached behind the scenes, and it remains to bring the consultations to an open surface.

The speaker of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan, when asked by “Radio Liberty” whether the Karabakh authorities agreed that Nikol spoke only about the territory of Armenia, answered: “Yes. Yes, they were informed and agreed. Because there was no other option in reality and could not be.”

In reality, based on the text of the statement, we see the emerging two formats of the Azerbaijani-Armenian dialogue. The parties agreed that observers from the European Union would control the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, which may indicate the leading role of the EU in regulating relations and creating an atmosphere of cooperation between the two countries. The second format with the predominant factor of Russia is being formed in the interior of Azerbaijan between Baku and Khankendi, and here the main Armenian operator of the project will most likely be the Russian billionaire Ruben Vardanyan, who has taken on the mission of ensuring the prosperity of the Armenian-populated territory of Azerbaijan.

In general, two parallel formats that have been and will be of an interacting nature, and will spill over into a common Armenian-Azerbaijani context within the reanimated idea of ​​a Caucasian home. In Prague, Aliyev proposed the creation of a trilateral platform with the participation of Baku, Yerevan and Tbilisi to ensure peace and stability in the South Caucasus. He “stated the importance of creating a single platform for the discussion of Azerbaijan-Georgia-Armenia, that is, in a triple format, to ensure peace and stability in the South Caucasus. Aliyev said that issues of energy, communications and other issues of mutual interest can also be discussed here.”

After the end of the Second Karabakh War, Aliyev, in tandem with Erdogan, put forward the idea of ​​creating a Caucasian peace platform, which did not receive support in Yerevan and Tbilisi for various geopolitical reasons. For example, Armenia was not satisfied with the participation of Turkey in the format, the uncertainty of the status of the Armenian-populated territory of Karabakh, and Georgia did not want the presence of Russia in the format, which occupied its territories, and so on. This time, Aliyev's compromise idea, centering on the three South Caucasian states, did not cause any complaints in Yerevan and Tbilisi, which may indicate that trilateral cooperation will take real contours in the near future.

Of course, it is not the 91st year. Much has changed and will continue to change under the pressure of the situation in Ukraine and beyond. Few can dispute the fact that the Ukrainian crisis, although not directly but indirectly, played no small role in revising the security architecture of Europe, part of which  is the South Caucasus. Restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine, on which the entire progressive world is working today, will inevitably lead to an acceleration of integration processes not only within the South Caucasus, but also in its ties with the neighboring world.