EU rep remains silent after Armenian official’s provocation What consequences could this lead?

At the January 19 meeting with EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan made absurd statements.

According to the Armenian press, the latest developments regarding regional security and peace were discussed at the meeting. The topic is important for the entire South Caucasus.

However, Kostanyan decided to make a personal contribution to disrupting the process of establishing peace. He made openly provocative speeches, similar to the nonsense of former Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan.

In any case, this is not a “small technical problem”. It is rather a performance of a new character who has been tasked with playing his role.

So, what did Kostanyan blurt out? He drew the attention of his interlocutors to the destructive statements that distracted from the peace agenda voiced in the latest interview with the Azerbaijani President. What did he want to achieve by making such nonsense and telling lies? Did he expect praise from the leadership? Certainly yes. Is it worth putting yourself and the entire Yerevan in such a ridiculous situation to be praised by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan?

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made a lot of well-founded and fair statements in an interview with domestic TV channels. We could explain the essence of each of them to Kostanyan if he could formulate his thoughts more clearly.

Kostanyan stressed that the former Soviet countries, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, recognize each other's borders per the Almaty Declaration of December 1991, and delimitation work should be carried out based on the latest maps available at the moment of the collapse of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

We would like to remind this Armenian talker that Armenia kept 20 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan under occupation for almost three decades, ignoring both the Almaty Declaration and the resolutions of the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly. Moreover, the current Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan shouted “Karabakh is Armenia and that’s it.”

He and his predecessors refused Baku’s numerous proposals for a peaceful resolution of the conflict within the territorial integrity of our countries.

Pashinyan chose war, rather than peace. He clearly overestimated the importance of Armenia and underestimated the political, economic, and military capabilities of Azerbaijan, which demonstrated to everyone the process of forcing an aggressor into peace.

Only after the defeat in the 44-day second Karabakh war, the Armenian leadership was forced to radically change its position, starting to make statements of respect for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including Karabakh.

Moreover, Pashinyan sent congratulations to the leaders of the Karabakh junta. The Karabakh junta was provided with weapons. Moreover, there is mine terror. In general, Armenia again forced Azerbaijan to respond. It brilliantly conducted the one-day anti-terrorist operation in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke about the reasons for these steps in an interview with domestic TV channels. The Armenian side simply has nothing to object. Moreover, Armenia still keeps eight villages of Azerbaijan under occupation.

That is, Pashinyan says one thing, but in reality, we see other situation. Kostanyan noted that “Azerbaijan is preventing the process of restoring regional infrastructure” which is a lie.

In reality, it is enough to read paragraph 9 of the tripartite statement dated November 10, 2020. “All economic ties and transport routes in the region will be restored. The Republic of Armenia ensures transport routes and guarantees the safety of transport routes between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic for citizens, vehicles to move freely and cargo to be transported in both directions,” says the document signed by the prime minister of the Republic of Armenia.

In reality, we see Yerevan’s stubborn reluctance to follow this point of the tripartite statement. Personally, Pashinyan avoids taking concrete steps in this sphere. Kostanyan has been entrusted with the role of the one who lies without blushing, who is not ashamed to put himself and the entire Yerevan in a ridiculous situation. Kostanyan’s actions resemble  Shavarsh Kocharyan’s ones.

Why did Klaar, who is aware of the real affairs, remain silent? I am sure that he understood well that the Armenian deputy foreign minister was lying and deliberately substituting concepts. Everyone remembers that Klaar, after a perfect operation in Karabakh, was received by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The Azerbaijani President then explained everything to the EU special representative. However, as we see, Klaar did not stop Kostanyan’s nonsense. Klaar’s silence in Yerevan may be considered a sign of agreement with that nonsense! We have already seen the result when various intermediaries wanted to benefit from both sides at once.

Akbar Hasanov