Baku has accused the Armenian authorities of trying to defeat the negotiations on the Karabakh conflict. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statements about the need to involve Artsakh in the negotiation process caused the indignation of the Azerbaijani side.

Yesterday, speaking at the meeting with the Armenian community of Iran, Pashinyan said that he should meet with the president of Azerbaijan. “It will be a meeting without an agenda, but one of its important directions will be the discussion of the format of the negotiations. There is still no agreement on the format, the contacts cannot be considered official negotiations,” said Pashinyan, once again repeating that he is speaking on behalf of Armenia, and the authorities of that republic should conduct negotiations on behalf of Artsakh.

Hikmet Gajiev, head of the foreign policy affairs department of the Azerbaijani president’s office, noted that “the statements of the Armenian leadership about changing the format of the negotiations are nothing more than attempts to lead the negotiation process to a dead end and failure.” The responsibility for this falls entirely on the Armenian side.”
Once again, Azerbaijan makes it clear to Yerevan that it is not going to sit at the negotiating table with Artsakh, it is a red line for them that they are not going to cross. 

Baku is already blaming Yerevan for the future failure of the negotiation process, thereby justifying its possible military aggression against Artsakh.

Azerbaijan will try to present RA as a destructive side to the international community, which wants to change the negotiation format that has been formed for years.

Baku has stated many times that the alternative to negotiations is war and they are ready to take that step. The four days of April 2016 is a clear proof that Azerbaijan is able to carry out offensive operations as well, the army of that country is no longer the army of the 1990s, with military, technical and personnel equipment.

According to Gajiev, after the change of power in Yerevan, the three contacts between the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, as well as the four meetings held between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries, are clear examples of the existing format of negotiations.

The Armenian side is trying to return Artsakh to the negotiation process, which is welcome, but Baku does not agree to it. If the Armenian side sets the return of Artsakh and Stepanakert-Baku direct negotiations as a precondition for further negotiations, Azerbaijan may perceive it as a casus belli and start military operations. Especially since the spring conditions allow a large-scale war to be waged on the Karabakh front.

RA and Artsakh should strengthen the economy and strengthen the army, because Baku will never recognize the independence of Artsakh, it is political suicide for Ilham Aliyev. The alternative to negotiations is war and Azerbaijan shows every day that they are going to solve the issue by military means. To what extent the Minsk Group will be able to restrain Baku is a big question mark, because in April 2016 they could not restrain Baku’s four-day military aggression against Artsakh.