Expert: Azerbaijan`s anti-Armenian rhetoric will continue to develop  at a new pace

ArmInfo.  Azerbaijan's anti-Armenian rhetoric will continue to develop at a new pace fueled by the euphoria of recent successes. This is according to orientalist Sergey Melkonyan, commenting on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev' speech in the occupied Artsakh Karvachar.

The expert recalled that on August 21, Ilham Aliyev gave a speech in  Karvachar that went beyond the usual conversation with residents. In  this vein, the orientalist suggested paying attention to the   Azerbaijani leader's main messages. "Firstly, that Russia was  deliberately pumping up Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh to contain  Azerbaijan. In his opinion, the Armenian side did not have enough  funds to buy weapons.  Therefore, "some countries" transferred  weapons to the Armenian side for free so that it could keep  Nagorno-Karabakh under control. It is clear that "some" countries  mean Russia, as at that time it was Yerevan's main partner in   military-technical cooperation," he noted. According to Melokonyan,  the second message is that Armenian diplomacy was successful. He  noted that, according to Aliyev, "France, Russia and America, instead  of resolving the conflict, made efforts to freeze it," which allowed  Nagorno-Karabakh to be kept by the Armenian side. "This statement  coincides with the one Aliyev made in 2016: behind closed doors,  pressure is being put on Baku to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh," the  expert said According to him, the third thesis is that Baku perceived  the trilateral statement of November 2020 as an act of capitulation,  that is, Baku did not perceive this document as a step towards  "peaceful coexistence" and "searching for a peace formula", but as a  success in pressuring Armenia.

"Azerbaijan would have paid a high price for continuing the war to  take Karvachar. One cannot disagree with him here. But the statement  that "Karvachar was taken without a single shot" is manipulative.  There were many shots. But the Azerbaijani army systematically failed  in its attempts to take anything in 2020," the orientalist added.

Melkonyan also stated that squeezing Armenians and Russian  peacekeepers out of Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Baku's "targeted  policy." The political scientist noted that this is how military  operations to capture heights in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the  Lachin corridor, were called after the 2020 war ("the capture of  important strategic points from November 2020 to September 2023, the  operations "Farrukh", "Gyrkhgyz", "Sarybaba" - all this is our  glorious history, and all this was part of our targeted policy").

"Therefore, the comments that were made during that period in the  spirit of "Yerevan recognized Nagorno- Karabakh as part of  Azerbaijan" or "there were clashes and skirmishes, as a result of  which control over the positions passed to the Azerbaijani Armed  Forces" are completely untenable. The signed Statements are an act of  capitulation of Armenia and peace depends on Azerbaijan. Such  passages at the level of the head of state clearly demonstrate how  the "peace process" is perceived by Baku: as the legitimization of  the fulfillment of its demands by Armenia in the logic of  "capitulation," and not "building peace," Melkonyan noted.

Another thesis of Aliyev, the expert named the statements that  Azerbaijan should be ready for war at any moment. "Aliyev referred to  the build-up of military potential, an increase in the number of  personnel, the purchase of modern equipment as necessary steps to  prepare for war. If there is a "peace process" with Armenia, then  Azerbaijan can only fight with three other neighbors - Russia, Iran  or Georgia. And here the question is: against whom is Azerbaijan  preparing for war," the orientalist asked. According to him, in  general, the militant rhetoric indicating that "Azerbaijan will never  forget anything" contrasts sharply with the narrative about the need  to "turn the page." "All this suggests that Baku does not plan to  live in peace.  Anti-Armenian rhetoric will continue to develop at a  new pace due to the maintenance of euphoria from new successes.  Aliyev's statement is an admission that all of Baku's steps were  aimed at undermining the trilateral statement of November 2020," the  expert concluded.