“Peace cannot wait any longer” Krikorian talks to Caliber.Az on Azerbaijani-Armenian talks

In an exclusive interview with Caliber.az, Onnik J. Krikorian, a journalist from the UK who has been covering the South Caucasus since 1994, spoke to Orkhan Amashov on the recent phase of the Azerbaijani-Armenian peace process, expressing a strong hope that 2023 could indeed be the year for a long-awaited accord between the sides.

The pundit is of the view that the conflict has been protracted for far too long and it is now time to finalise the process, but given that similar expectations were in the air in 2022, it is erroneous to regard this as a foregone conclusion.

On the point of the reintegration of Karabakh Armenians into Azerbaijani society, Krikorian shared his views on how this could be attained, particularly drawing attention to the regrettable lack of open public discussion on the subject in Armenian circles. In the journalist’s opinion, the past two and a half years have been wasted, without achieving any meaningful debate on how the dialogue between Baku and the Karabakh Armenians should proceed.

The British journalist believes that the region’s Armenian-speaking population cannot have a viable future without Azerbaijan. Dismissing the view that Baku gaining administrative control over Khankandi would amount to the exodus of local Armenians, Krikorian believes that, without a peace treaty, no Armenians will remain in the area.

Commending the vast and expeditious reconstruction work carried out in Lachin, the pundit described the contrast between the state of affairs prevalent in the area prior to 2020 and now as “striking”.

In relation to the Zangazur Corridor, Krikorian believes it could be counterproductive to alienate Russia, and the latter should be accommodated, by being allowed to “have enough”, but “not everything that it wants”.

The British journalist finds it only too understandable that the Azerbaijani-Armenian peace process and the Turkish-Armenian normalisation are inextricably intertwined, and progress in the latter track will be determined by the result of talks between Baku and Yerevan.

In addition to the aforementioned, the conversion between Krikorian and Amashov covered an expansive plethora of issues, including Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s internal political struggles, the public mood in Armenia, “remedial secession” discourse, the import of the 2021 snap elections and many other issues of relevance.

Below is the link to the video version of the interview: