“Baku shows Central Asia how unsolvable issues can be resolved”
Razuvayev and Akhmetov on Caliber.Az

INTERVIEWS  22 September 2023 - 15:29

The completion of anti-terrorist measures and the beginning of the process of reintegration of the Armenian population of Garabagh into fabric of Azerbaijani society is extremely important news both for the South Caucasus region and for many countries of the post-Soviet space, both Russian and Kazakh political experts underscored it in a conversation with Caliber.Az.

As Russian expert on Eurasia Alexander Razuvayev noted, the day before the Moscow Exchange indicators reacted positively to the news that the Armenian armed forces in Karabakh raised a white flag. According to him, such a market reaction is not accidental - it characterizes the reduction of geopolitical risks, the resolution of the Karabakh problem, and opens up new opportunities for cooperation between Moscow and Baku.

“Russia and Azerbaijan are connected by several very large and important economic projects, such as North-South and East-West. And Kazan has very close ties with Baku. Azerbaijan also does not strive to join NATO, and since the collapse of the USSR, not a single school with the Russian sector of education has been closed in Azerbaijan; the Baku Slavic University continues to operate.

The Karabakh problem prevented Russia from cooperating more closely not only with Azerbaijan, but also with other countries of the Turkic world: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey. Now this question has been removed. It is beneficial for everyone: both the Turkic countries and Russia.

We can probably say that after 800 years, the Golden Horde is being restored in a new form, as a single economic space of Russians and Turks. This is very good news. In conclusion, I would like to note that the Russian Foreign Ministry has always stated that Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan,” said the Russian political expert.

According to Kazakh political expert Azat Akhmetov, Azerbaijan was able to cut the Gordian knot in the most peaceful and bloodless way possible.

“The measures to pacify the separatists in Karabakh, whatever one may say, were inevitable. After all, it was clear that Pashinyan himself would not have agreed to this - there were too many risks for him personally. Azerbaijan carried out counter-terrorism measures brilliantly, managing to neutralize any resistance from the separatists in just 24 hours. This is a unique military-political experience that, dare I say it, has already become history.

For the countries of Central Asia, the example of the manifestation of political will and strength of the Azerbaijani people is an important marker of how issues that at first glance seem completely unsolvable should be resolved. Especially when many actors in the region and beyond are aimed at destabilizing the situation as much as possible. The brilliant work of the Azerbaijani military and diplomats proves that the South Caucasus region is getting a completely new chance for peaceful development, building a radically different standard of living, and achieving ambitious goals.

What Baku has been able to achieve at the moment is an unprecedented indicator of Azerbaijan’s step-by-step strategy, which can be the envy of many countries stuck in the swamp of separatism, faced with the loss of their sovereignty for many decades, if not centuries,” A. Akhmetov concluded.

Caliber.Az