"The action brought Karabakh Armenians and peacekeepers closer together"

The action of eco-activists on the Lachin-Khankendi road has been going on for more than 100 days. They require monitoring of gold and copper deposits in Karabakh.

The Armenian side accuses Azerbaijan of the blockade of Karabakh Armenians and the creation of a humanitarian crisis. Even this issue was considered in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in December last year. On December 21, the ECHR imposed obligations on Azerbaijan on the Lachin corridor. The Court wants Azerbaijan to take all necessary measures to ensure the transportation of seriously ill patients in need of medical care along the corridor to Armenia. The decision also stipulates the obligation to ensure safe passage for those who are homeless on the road or in need of livelihood.

In an interview with local TV channels in January, President Ilham Aliyev said that the goal is not a blockade. The requirements are absolutely fair: "Monitoring, inspection, suppression of illegal exploitation (of the gold deposit) is required, and we will achieve this."

In the middle of this month, Azerbaijani officials reported that since December 12, more than 4,000 vehicles and more than 150 people in need of medical care have passed along the road through Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

But how long will this action last? Elman Nasirov, a member of the Milli Majlis Committee on International Relations and Inter-parliamentary Relations, told Turan that eco-activists have specific reasons and motives for holding the action: "The reasons that led to the start of this action have been partially eliminated. There are also results. It was as a result of the direct impact of this action that the plundering of Azerbaijan's natural resources, the policy of environmental terror was stopped, and the exploitation of these deposits was stopped."

According to the deputy, the relevant state structures of Azerbaijan wanted to monitor the deposits, but the main party that prevented this was Ruben Vardanyan: "Vardanyan said that you should negotiate with me. And that was unacceptable."

According to Nasirov, "the direct consequence of the president's principled position and the action of eco-activists is that Vardanyan was dismissed." He stressed that the current goal is to ensure monitoring, calculating the damage caused: "It is possible that the action will continue until this goal is achieved."

Azer Gasimli, the head of the Institute of Political Management, told “Radio Azadlig” that the Azerbaijani authorities had not achieved anything with this action: "This action even had a complete reverse effect. The resolution of the European Parliament condemned this action, Azerbaijan was marked as a party oppressing Armenians living in Karabakh. Also, some European countries have made statements on this issue, the position on this issue was demonstrated at the UN. The world community did not take it positively, and it was directed completely against Azerbaijan."

According to the political scientist, the second winning party is Russia: "Because Russia's desire in the region has always been that there should be no agreement between the peoples. Even if there is consent, it is only under his control."

Political commentator Arastun Orujlu believes that the protests on the Lachin-Khankendi road are an action of soft power: "In fact, Azerbaijan has informed that by this  action it is trying to bring the processes back under its control, and Azerbaijan has a certain resource for this. The anti-terrorist operation was preferable to soft power rather than military action."

However, according to him, the extension of the action with the same requirements for more than 100 days caused certain negative effects: "One of them was the creation of such an opinion in the international community as the blockade of the Karabakh Armenians. Of course, if the Karabakh Armenians had remained in the blockade for 100 days, a very serious humanitarian crisis would have arisen there, and this is a very far from reality statement. But this propaganda worked to the detriment of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has not been able to implement information support for this issue."

According to the political scientist, one of the drawbacks is that the action brought the Karabakh Armenians and the Russian peacekeepers closer together: "The Russians showed the Karabakh Armenians that without us, Azerbaijan will strangle you with a blockade. In this sense, it ensured the interests of Russia." He believes that although Azerbaijan received dividends from this action, the losses were greater. ---0---