Counter positive messages from Baku and Yerevan

Baku/08.10.21/Turan: On September 30, a two-day working meeting of experts from Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia was held in the Kakheti region of Georgia. The parties discussed measures to build confidence and establish peace in the South Caucasus.

Following this, a meeting of representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia took place in Vienna. It was attended by members of political parties and deputies. The meeting was organized by the Austrian government and expert community. The meeting participants discussed issues of settlement in the post-war period. The meeting was attended by Armen Ashotyan and Karen Avagyan from the Republican Party of Armenia and Edmon Marukyan from the Enlightened Armenia Party. Azerbaijan was represented by the MP Tural Ganjaliyev, the head of the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and  the Erkin Gadirli, MP from the REAL party.

Earlier, on September 25, a meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia was held in New York with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. Press secretary of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Leyla Abdullayeva, answering a question about the next meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, did not rule out holding such a meeting in the future.

Recently, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sent each other public messages about a possible meeting.

Last week, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to take part in a meeting organized by representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group.

On October 2, in an interview with the Spanish EFE news agency, President Ilham Aliyev said: "I am ready to talk to Pashinyan any time he is ready." According to him, this can be a good demonstration that the war is over and that this "page has been turned."

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also stated that he is ready to meet with his Azerbaijani counterpart.

Can these events be considered harbingers of the start of negotiations between the two countries? Political observer Ahmed Alili answered these and other questions in the "Difficult Question" program.

According to Ahmed Alili, it is so - Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the eve of the start of negotiations. This is evidenced by the positive messages of the head of the Azerbaijani state. He stated that "the conflict is over," which means that the Azerbaijani side intends to start active peacekeeping. Counter messages were also heard from Yerevan.

“During the recent reception by Ilham Aliyev of the newly appointed head of the European Union Delegation in Azerbaijan, positive messages were also voiced. The EU expressed its readiness to take part in the process of border demarcation and delimitation,” the expert said.

At the same time, he noted, the reality is that diversification of platforms is necessary. Since there are forces in Russia that can change the situation and therefore, in addition to the recently formed Russia-Turkey format, alternative platforms are needed.

“In this regard, it is worth paying attention to the proposals of the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili. While on a visit to Baku, he came up with an initiative to create a platform in Tbilisi for permanent contacts between high-ranking officials of Armenia and Azerbaijan in order to promote dialogue at a high level," the expert noted. –0----