Georgian diplomat: Everyone witnessed that Baku exerted no pressure on Garabagh Armenians Caliber.Az interview with Valery Chechelashvili

Caliber.Az had a conversation with Georgian diplomat, former Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia, and ex-GUAM Secretary General Valery Chechelashvili about recent developments in the region.

- Azerbaijan has restored full sovereignty over the Garabagh region and I'd like to hear your assessment of this historic event.

- I think the most important thing is that as a result of Azerbaijan's recent actions its internationally recognised borders have been restored. This is a step in the very right direction for Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. It's a positive thing because the aggravating factor of Garabagh prevented the development of dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan on signing a bilateral treaty on interstate relations and restoration of peace. This factor has receded into the past, and now there are many more chances that a peace treaty will be concluded in the near future.

Now about Garabagh. It is very important that the local separatist governing administration self-liquidated and Baku did not do it for them. Self-liquidation is a much fairer and correct outcome of the problem from the legal and historical point of view and creates a much healthier atmosphere for further actions in the region.

Those Armenians who wanted to leave - left, and I think that Baku positioned itself very correctly here. Because it immediately stated that those who want to stay can stay, moreover, as I understand, various reintegration tools have been created and are being created, and even an internet portal has been launched for those who left but want to return. Some may have changed their mind or could not settle down. It is clear that nobody in Armenia is particularly fond of new-coming Armenians. This is a very correct formulation of the question. As for those who firmly decided to leave Garabagh, everything is as transparent as possible since the Azerbaijani authorities provided them with appropriate assistance, be it medical, transport and so on.

The most important thing now is to continue working with those who wish to integrate, although it is not even clear what percentage of the population is left. It is difficult to estimate this yet. But I think it is a very correct step on the part of Azerbaijan that international observers under the leadership of the UN programme coordinator, who, as far as I understand, is accredited in Baku, were allowed there. This group visited Khankendi, the Lachin checkpoint, and was able to make sure that nobody exerted any violent pressure on the Garabagh Armenians. Moreover, even at the time when Armenians decided to leave Garabagh and started travelling to Armenia, there were no Azerbaijani troops and administration in Khankendi. And this is easy to confirm. So the activities of the UN international mission on this and other issues are very important now in Garabagh. Perhaps it would be reasonable to conduct a survey among the remaining Armenian population: why did their neighbours or relatives decide to leave, and what motivated them to do so? And it would be good if Azerbaijan carried out this work not even alone, but together with international observers, in order to finally show that the reintegration of the Armenian population into the fabric of Azerbaijani statehood is painless.

- How can the factor of liberated Garabagh influence the geopolitical situation in the South Caucasus?

- I have always said that we should form a trilateral platform of cooperation in the South Caucasus. And I am sure that the opportunities provided by the peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan will find a new breath. Why is it important? Because our interests lie here, in this region, and they are intertwined. Without each other, we cannot raise the legal personality of the entire South Caucasus and increase its competitiveness and attractiveness in the system of regional and international relations. All other players, be they regional or more global, pursue their own goals in our region. Therefore, this trio is the main factor and only it, in fact, can decide how to further expand this format. And in this case, a huge field for cooperation opens up, say, a regional free trade agreement, the opening of all communications in general, not just individual ones - that is, any cargo owner can afford to use any transport communication in the region. If this is done jointly, on a trilateral basis, the credibility and reputation of the whole region in the system of international communications will be boosted and everyone will benefit. I look forward to starting such an endeavour. It will be a very constructive, clear activity, creative and forward-looking. Of course, we will have to look for new systems of foreign policy coordinates here, first of all for Armenia, but it is a process of search, and I very much hope for its realisation.

- You mentioned the opening of all regional communications. However, Iran regularly states its rejection of the Zangezur corridor route, mixing this transit project with its political ambitions. What should be done in this case?

- Let me repeat that I am personally with two hands in favour of opening and launching the entire transport and transit resource of the South Caucasus. If this is the result of agreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Iran will have no opportunity to influence this situation, simply because this decision will be based on Armenia's sovereign right, on its conscious choice. And this is in the interests not only of Azerbaijan, but also of Armenia, Türkiye and, paradoxically, Georgia.

Why? Because, for example, Armenia increases its legal personality with the implementation of this project, because the development of transit flows between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan and further with Türkiye will give it the opportunity to fully participate in an interregional project for the first time. If this happens, it means that Armenia is establishing relations not only with Azerbaijan but also with Türkiye. This, in turn, means that the attractiveness of the South Caucasus, and its transport and transit potential is immeasurably increasing. The increase of this attractiveness, this potential has a kind of cumulative effect, which will definitely benefit Georgia as well. I am deeply convinced that we - Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia - should not compete with each other in terms of the number of transit projects, but together we should increase the competitiveness of the South Caucasus as a whole. We do not really have a very large region, not many people live here - 16-17 million people in total. Therefore, absolutely everyone will benefit from this process, and the South Caucasus region will have an opportunity to become a space of stability and integration, rather than remaining a territory of conflicts and contradictions.

- Does Georgia take into account the experience of Azerbaijan in restoring its territorial integrity?

- Everyone should draw conclusions about the completion of the separatist Garabagh project: Georgia and, above all, Sukhumi and Tskhinvali. Because all their quasi-statehood and all their endeavours to break away from Georgia are connected with the fact that this was promoted by Moscow with not very, to put it mildly, good motives. But now the Russian factor is consistently shrinking in the region, which was demonstrated by the successful 24-hour anti-terrorist measures in Garabagh.

Nevertheless, even though the Saakashvili government and later the Garibashvili government mentioned it, Georgia has no plans to regain control over its territories in Abkhazia and South Ossetia by military means. Tbilisi's task is to reintegrate the population, our citizens living there, into the fabric of Georgian statehood. And we see prospects for this in the political rapprochement of Georgia with the European Union. If anything can ensure the issue of national minorities, it is European conventions, European criteria and standards, values of cooperation and so on. I am sure that this should be explained to our fellow citizens who live in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. But as Ukraine's victory becomes more and more visible and Russia's turbulence in its own region grows, it will no longer care about the South Caucasus.

That is when we will have an opportunity to change the situation. And if we develop the trilateral platform of cooperation as a good example, this process will help us a lot. So we need to observe the situation, learn lessons and draw conclusions based on what is happening today.