How to stop the transfer of weapons to Karabakh and convince Karabakh Armenians to reintegrate into Azerbaijan?

Baku/07.03.23/Turan: On the evening of March 6, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan issued a statement expressing regret over the "distortion of facts" in the newsletter of the military department of the Russian Federation and "the dissemination of false information about an armed incident that occurred yesterday (March 5) on the Khankendi-Khalfali-Turshsu dirt road.

"We regret to note that on March 6, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation distorted the facts in its bulletin and disseminated false information regarding the armed incident that occurred yesterday on the Khankendi-Khalfali-Turshsu road," the statement said.

The ministry's statement also says that the Armenian troops should be completely withdrawn from the territory of Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, the head of the separatist regime in Karabakh, Araik Harutyunyan, said that Baku rejected the proposal to reintegrate Karabakh into Azerbaijan.

According to him, on February 24, with the mediation of peacekeepers, representatives of Karabakh and Baku met "to discuss humanitarian and infrastructure issues." An agreement was reached on the second meeting, which took place on March 1. There were four issues on the agenda: unblocking of the Lachin corridor, restoration of electricity supply from Armenia to Karabakh, restoration of gas supply and resumption of operation of the Gyzylbulag (Kashen) mine.

"During the second meeting, the representative of Azerbaijan tried to discuss political issues using the word "integration", but the representative of Karabakh Samvel Shahramanyan refused to talk about this topic," Harutyunyan said.

"At the second meeting, the representative of Azerbaijan tried to discuss political issues using the word "integration", but the representative of Karabakh Samvel Shahramanyan refused to speak on this topic," Harutyunyan said.

After that, the Azerbaijani side conveyed through its channels that either the Armenians should integrate, or the existing problems will not be solved, but on the contrary will become even tougher. What will the escalation of tension lead to?

The head of the Institute of Political Management Azer Gasimli shares his thoughts on the future prospects of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations on the air of the "Difficult Question" program.

According to him, the Azerbaijani authorities want to present the case to the public in such a way as if there are some serious processes going on around Karabakh and the Azerbaijani authorities have some influence on them.

"But I don't think so. I believe that nothing serious is happening in connection with Karabakh. The authorities are well aware that they are not able to control Khankendi. The RPC (Russian peacekeeping contingent) fully exercises control over this territory, there are no signs that this situation is beginning to change. And as long as the RPC is in Karabakh, there can be no question of any reintegration of Armenians into Azerbaijan," the expert said.

In his opinion, there is a certain connection between the armed incident in Karabakh, as a result of which there are dead and wounded on both sides, which occurred after the recent visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Azerbaijan and the subsequent meeting with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan.

"It is obvious that some processes are going on in the region. Pashinyan's government is still in power in Armenia, which has been getting closer and closer to the West lately. He has placed an EU mission on the border with Azerbaijan, which does not excite Russia at all. It is clear that Russia wants to overthrow Pashinyan and bring a loyal figure to power. Naturally, in this way, what is happening in Karabakh is a logical continuation of this Kremlin policy. However, all this does not mean that any processes are underway towards the integration of Karabakh Armenians into Azerbaijan. Nothing like this is happening," Gasimli says.