Pundit: Azerbaijan to appropriately respond to Armenia’s provocation

Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijani Centre of Analysis of International Relations Farid Shafiyev has said that Armenia demonstrated another position to evade peace.

“The ongoing processes in Armenia and throughout the world, as well as the support which is rendered to Yerevan have recently hampered the negotiations on a peace treaty. If Armenia again resorts to any provocations, Azerbaijan’s response will be appropriate. In general, if there were no adequate responses, Armenia more often committed provocations,” he told Azertac.

Shafiyev noted that after the second Karabakh war, Azerbaijan sent a five-point document to Armenia regarding the normalisation of relations and made numerous initiatives.

“While giving various excuses, the Armenian side has recently demonstrated a different position to evade peace. Thus, Yerevan offered Azerbaijan a mechanism for mutual arms control and even the signing of a non-aggression pact,” he said.

Shafiyev noted that in the current situation, Armenia’s proposal has no logical basis because five basic principles proposed by Azerbaijan to Armenia stipulate to refrain from threatening each other’s security in interstate relations, from using threats and force against political independence and territorial integrity, as well as from other circumstances incompatible with the purposes of the UN Charter.

“As this proposal was put forward by Azerbaijan, Armenia’s similar statement is nothing more than a game,” he added.

Shafiyev noted that after the anti-terrorist measures carried out in Karabakh on September 19–20, 2023, the situation was quiet on the conventional border for almost five months. However, the Armenians’ provocation on the conventional border actually showed that Armenia is not interested in normalising relations with Azerbaijan.

“The most fundamental issue during the discussions on the peace treaty is territorial claims against Azerbaijan in the Armenian Declaration of Independence. Therefore, after these claims are removed from the legal documents, a peace treaty can be signed. There is no precedent here,” Shafiyev added.