Armenian expert in Azerbaijani studies Taron Hovhannisyan commented on the outcomes of Saturday’s public debate between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Munich.
The expert stated the Azerbaijani president had attended the discussion without having a clear agenda.
“He came for a show, which proves that Azerbaijan is not ready to resolve the conflict,” he said.
In Hovhannisyan’s words, Aliyev spoke of a key norm of the international law – the right to self-determination – with contempt, advising Armenians to “find other places on earth to self-determine themselves for the second time, not in Azerbaijan.”
"Aliyev confirmed their demands that they need Karabakh without Armenians, or rather the whole region without Armenians," the expert noted, adding that Azerbaijan is not ready to be confined to any territory and has further-reaching plans related to Zangezur.
Taron Hovhannisyan stressed the importance of removing the term "territories" from the Karabakh peace process and hailed the prime minister's attempt to classify the conflict as a matter of security, which had been done before as well.
According to the expert, it is crucial to show Azerbaijan’s destructive policy during events similar to the Munich debate, but the Armenian side failed to do it.