How did Araik respond to Baku's gesture addressed to the Karabakh Armenians

Baku/03.03.23/Turan: On March 1,  MP Ramin Mammadov, as the person responsible for contacts with the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region, met  with representatives of the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region in the city of Khojaly, where the headquarters of the Russian peacekeepers are located,.

According to official sources, issues of reintegration of Armenian residents of the Karabakh region to Azerbaijan were discussed during the meeting. It was also reported that these contacts will be continued.

The Armenian side's message says that humanitarian and infrastructural issues were discussed at the meeting, in particular, the restoration of uninterrupted movement of people, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin corridor, the restoration of electricity and gas supply to Karabakh from Armenia, as well as the operation of the Gyzylbulag (Kashen) mine.

The "secretary of the Security Council" of the separatist regime Samvel Shahramanyan took part in the meeting as a representative of the Armenians.

It was assumed that contacts would continue, moreover, Barda, Ganja and Aghdam are considered as meeting places. However, a couple of hours after Baku's representatives met with Karabakh Armenians in Khojaly, separatist leader Araik Harutyunyan made a statement at a meeting of the "government" that put an end to the prospect of a peaceful settlement.

"I want to emphasize once again that despite the difficulties and pressure exerted on us, we will remain true to the ideas of the Artsakh movement and will not take a single step back from the path of independence. I want to state with all responsibility that any integration process with Azerbaijan is excluded. However, this does not mean that we will avoid contacts in order to solve infrastructure and humanitarian problems. And for negotiations on the settlement of the conflict, as I indicated in my message of February 23, it is necessary to provide certain conditions and an international format," he said.

Political and military expert Uzeyir Jafarov comments on what is happening in the "Difficult Question" program.

According to him, this meeting is nothing but another attempt to delay the solution of the problem and a waste of time. "I believe that at this stage, there was no need for this meeting. Pashinyan once again speaks of his "determination to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan," but the matter is not moving from a dead point. Armenians in Karabakh will not give up their separatist aspirations in any way.

The peace treaty has not been signed yet, illegal armed formations have not been withdrawn from Karabakh, and Vardanyan is also not going to leave Karabakh. And Azerbaijani TV channels – Az TV, ITV, and other channels have already started trumpeting about the great victory," Uzeyir Jafarov said.

According to the expert, the Azerbaijani side should seek Russia's fulfillment of its obligations to fulfill the points of the trilateral ceasefire statement signed by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on the night of November 9-10, 2020.

"Then there will be no need to meet with the separatists," the expert believes.--0--