Azerbaijan's regional and global role dramatically increased Armenian expert says

Armenian human rights activist Vardan Harutyunyan has said that Azerbaijan's role increased dramatically, both in the region and globally.

Harutunyan made the remarks during a conversation on the channel of the Armenian edition of Radio Liberty, Caliber.Az reports.

“The Ukrainian war has already given Azerbaijan many big opportunities, and Azerbaijan has become a serious player for Russia, and not only for Russia but also for the West. However, it is a major player for Russia,” the activist said.

At present, Azerbaijan is already trying to play not only a regional role, but also to assume other, more serious roles, and is trying to say its word. And all this is not happening in vain, all this is the result of calculated steps.

Harutunyan regretted that they did not take calculated steps, cherished the hope that the Russians would defend them to the end.

“We cherished the hope that if our Prime Minister [Nikol Pashinyan] speaks on the phone with the US Secretary of State [Antony Blinken], then Azerbaijan will definitely not take more serious steps. We didn't realise and don't realise now that people do their own thing,” he said.

“As for Garabagh, of course, the change of power contributed to all this. There is a lot to understand about why this happened. It is clear why in 1998 the trio Serzh Sargsyan, Robert Kocharyan and Vazgen Sargsyan behaved this way; they wanted power. It is clear why Pashinyan made these mistakes, he did not change his political course after 2018, he continued to follow the same path because he did not understand the seriousness of the situation, did not imagine that such dangers could exist and pretended that he could play,” Harutunyan said.

“We have the impression that there will be no great dangers, Moscow will not allow war, the West will not allow war, Azerbaijan will not dare, that our army is very powerful, etc. This is all understandable, but it is completely unclear what they were thinking in Karabakh, especially after 2022. In December 2022, this was obvious when Lachin was closed. This was stated so clearly that the Garabagh problem has already been solved by Azerbaijan.”

“So, in this situation, the most important thing should have been for Karabakh to enter into dialogue with Azerbaijan. However, they did not agree to dialogue, refused to go to Baku, ended up going to I don’t know where, and tried to dictate their terms. Then, when Ruben Vardanyan came and began to announce that he should be the Minister of State, he should be the interlocutor, from Baku they clearly and clearly stated that they would not conduct a dialogue with this person.

I will tell you that Azerbaijan played very clearly and openly, there was no fraud. And if the process was properly organized, in the case of direct dialogue with Azerbaijan, it would be possible to create opportunities for Karabakh Armenians to live in Garabagh. This is not about any kind of self-determination. There were such opportunities,” Harutyunyan added.