ArmInfo. Making statements of this kind and similar content, the President of Azerbaijan, in all likelihood, is trying to insure himself against a preemptive military strike by Armenia. A similar opinion was expressed to ArmInfo by former NKR Foreign Minister, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Arman Melikyan, commenting on Ilham Aliyev's accusations against Armenia of delaying the resumption of the negotiation process.
Melikyan recalled that all these years from Baku, as a rule, there were similar statements about the right of Azerbaijan at any time, through the initiation of hostilities, to establish control over the territory of Artsakh. A similar attempt - the "April war" was undertaken by Aliyev, but ended in vain. In the same year, the Azerbaijani army was generally defeated in the Tavush direction of the border with Armenia. "In this light, I would draw attention to the fact that such a long-term aggressive attitude of Baku, accompanied by periodic attempts at armed aggression, created a kind of carte blanche for Armenia and Artsakh to initiate preventive military strikes and actions at any moment. for us one of the important results of such a long-term policy of Baku. In turn, apparently realizing all this, Aliyev is trying to create the impression that Armenia is going to start hostilities, "he stressed.
Returning to the prospects for the resumption of the negotiation process, the diplomat stressed that for quite a long period Baku was in a rather comfortable negotiating environment. This environment and the approach of Yerevan, which provided for the transfer of territories in exchange for Azerbaijan's recognition of the right of Artsakh to self-determination within the borders of the NKAO, allowed Baku to consider the settlement of the conflict exclusively within the framework of the thesis on the preservation of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
According to him, this situation has somewhat changed with the change of power in Yerevan. In particular, continuing to ignore the issue of preserving the territorial integrity of Artsakh, on the other hand, the Armenian authorities began to declare that Artsakh is Armenia. This duality of behavior, in Melikyan's opinion, not only disrupted the long-term Azerbaijani comfort, but also caused obvious confusion in Baku. "I suppose that through such a policy, the Armenian leadership is trying to induce the Azerbaijani colleagues, in fact, to reach a compromise. Refusal of the aforementioned desire of Baku to consider the negotiations exclusively within the framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. However, according to my forecasts, it is not so easy to force Aliyev to retreat in front of such political pressure it will work out, "the diplomat summed up.
Since 1992, the OSCE Minsk Group, represented by the co-chairs from Russia, the United States and France, has been involved in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. At present, the settlement process is nominally proceeding on the basis of the "Madrid Principles", nominated by the OSCE Minsk Group co- chairs in 2007 in Madrid and updated in 2009, which, among other things, provide for the deployment of a peacekeeping contingent in the conflict zone. The OSCE Minsk Group also includes Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Turkey, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan.