Serbian President seeks Azerbaijani support amid Western pressures
Insights from Political Scientist Stevan Gajić

INTERVIEWS  17 April 2024 - 13:10

On April 16, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and briefing him on the recent pressures Serbia has been facing requested the support of the friendly Azerbaijani people. Reaffirming Azerbaijan's and Serbia's mutual support for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty, President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that this stance will continue in the future. The successful cooperation between the two countries within international organizations was noted in this regard.

Note that on April 16, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe put to a vote the accession of the Serbian province of Kosovo to the organization. PACE rejected by an absolute majority all amendments to the decision, which were submitted by Serbian parliamentarians, after which the assembly adopted the decision. 171 MPs voted in favor of Kosovo's accession to the Council of Europe, while 131 voted against and another 29 abstained. For Kosovo to become a member of the organization, the final decision should be taken by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

What kind of help is Belgrade expecting from Baku? Caliber.Az asked Serbian political scientist Professor Stevan Gajić to respond to the question. According to him, the fact that Vucic turned to Aliyev for help in the international arena should not surprise anyone.

"Today, Serbia is under powerful pressure from Western countries. Germany in particular stands out here, which intends to push through a resolution against the Serbs at the UN, presenting the war crimes in Srebrenica as genocide. It also wants to establish an International Day of Genocide in Srebrenica.  The fact is that many war crimes were committed in Srebrenica during three years - from 1992 to 1995. For example, in 1992 - against the Serbs. In 1995, the Serbs occupied the town and indeed, a war crime was committed when prisoners of war were shot. But this cannot be qualified as genocide.

Germany intends to open Pandora's box at the UN, because then Serbia will also start to raise the topic of war crimes of Germans in the former Yugoslavia during the First and Second World Wars. Back then, the Germans shot thousands of people here, including children. The German crimes were much more heinous in their scale.

Clearly, all these actions of the West are political in nature. They simply want to punish Serbia for not imposing sanctions against Russia. They also want to upset Serbia with its traditional partners and friends in the Muslim world. The West hopes that the governments of Muslim countries will vote against the Serbs. That is, the West is preparing a trap for us. And since Azerbaijan-Serbia relations have been developing rapidly in recent years, it is logical that Vucic turned to President Aliyev for help," the pundit noted.

Caliber.Az