Expert: Georgia may become platform for negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia Gela Vasadze on Caliber.Az

On October 24, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev paid a working visit to Georgia. In his press statement issued following the meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Ilham Aliyev briefed the audience on the situation after the Second Karabakh war and the course of peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"We believe that after the Karabakh conflict is over, the time has come for Azerbaijan and Armenia to sign a peace treaty. In any case, this is our intention. We presented to the Armenian side our proposals of five basic principles. I hope that the Armenian side will also show political will and sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan", the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan said.

Ilham Aliyev noted that at a meeting held today in Georgia the sides exchanged views on the start of Georgian-Azerbaijani-Armenian consultations.

"Today, we exchanged views on the start of Georgian-Azerbaijani-Armenian consultations. If the Armenian side is ready for this, we are ready too," the head of state said.

In this regard, Georgian political scientist Gela Vasadze told Caliber.Az that in this case, Georgia is only a venue for direct talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"Today there are three formats for negotiations. The first is the traditional one, which has existed for a long time, which is the Azerbaijan-Russia-Armenia format. It is worth noting that Türkiye is also invisibly present in this format. The second format was created through the mediation of the European Union. By the way, there was an attempt to create another format with the mediation of the US. The EU and the US acted together in this format. The third format, which was proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron before his scandalous statement on France 2 that Azerbaijan allegedly 'unleashed a terrible war' in Karabakh and 'launched several attacks along the border' with Armenia in September this year. And pay attention to what happened in the end. In Prague Macron acted as a mediator, and then he made a statement after which it became clear that he cannot be a mediator because that statement made him a negotiating party. And finally, the format that President Ilham Aliyev proposed in Georgia. I think this was the reason he came to Georgia, this was his main goal. Generally, it is a format of direct negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Georgia accordingly provides a platform in this case. And after the conclusion of the peace agreement, official Tbilisi gets involved in the whole process of building the region. I think that's very logical and correct," a Georgian political scientist said.

Vasadze also stressed that Moscow will react to this nervously.

"One must understand that Putin himself invites Ilham Aliyev and Nikol Pashinyan to Sochi. Previously Moscow was against the signing of a peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan, now it is in favour of it, but on the condition that the Russian peacekeeping contingent remains in Karabakh for a long time. Putin is most likely pursuing this goal, and this is well understood in Azerbaijan," our interlocutor suggested.

Vasadze concluded by saying that there was no alternative to a peace treaty.

"The Armenian authorities want to sign it. Another thing is that there are a lot of accompanying factors, both internal and, above all, external, which prevent this from happening. The main factor is Russia, which is very zealous about signing a peace treaty without its participation," the expert summed up.