Azerbaijan has no reason to rush. Shiraz Khachatryan

The other day we have touched on The strategic significance of the occupied Kovsak, Zangelan for Azerbaijan, and how it came under the control of Azerbaijan.

On May 10, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the occupied city of Kovsakan (Zangelan), where he specially emphasized that it is located in the transport corridor, so it will become a transport center for Azerbaijan and the entire region.

“On our initiative, the construction of the bridge on the Iranian border has almost been completed, and now the construction of border-customs infrastructure and buildings is underway. Probably, in a few months they will also be ready for operation, and it will become an international transport corridor. Both railways and roads passing through here will be of great benefit because people will be provided with jobs there. And this will be a huge investment in the economy of Zangelan and, in general, Azerbaijan.

After the opening of the border with Armenia, the “Zangezur Corridor”, Zangelan will actually become the only region of our country that will have a border checkpoint with two neighboring countries. See how important it is. Because it is both the East-West corridor, a road that stretches from Nakhijevan through Turkey to Europe, and the North-South corridor, from Zangelan through Aghbend to Iran and the Persian Gulf, and from here through Nakhijevan and Julfa, back to the Persian Gulf. Thus, Zangelan will become an irreplaceable international center. This is how we see it, and this is exactly how it will be, because until now all our plans have come to life,” he elaborated.

Now in this case, can we say that Aliyev does not attach much importance to another direction at the moment, although Nikol Pashinyan has stated that the restoration of the railway passing through Ijevan is also being discussed. At the same time during the pre-election campaign he emphasized that there are “Azerbaijani villages” in Tavush, which must be surrendered, and we will receive Artsvashen, moreover, this places both in the process of demarcation and demarcation, and alludes to About the strategic deal with Aliyev, which he proposed much earlier.

The question is that if a demarcation is made in any direction, then you will get the property that belongs to you, which is under the control of Azerbaijan, in that direction.

We have talked more than once about the risks that the handing over of “enclave” villages will lead to, that it can destroy not only the internal communications of Tavush marz, but also put under attack the highway going to Bagratashen through Tavush, the Armenian-Georgian border, and the gas pipeline entering Armenia from Georgia, etc.

But since the issue is still relevant, and in practice they will still have to be addressed, 168.am-talked about this topic Shiraz Khachatryan, expert of “Henaket” analytical center Is the second stage of border demarcation in the direction of Tavush in Azerbaijan’s interest at the moment? If so, why? If not, why, when will it be necessary?

to return, does it have a purely political and moral significance, or can it? “Today, the Armenian-Azerbaijani border demarcation process is difficult to consider equal negotiations, it is more reminiscent of a series of unilateral concessions, where Baku gets everything it wants and when it wants. If we consider whether it is currently in Azerbaijan’s interest to start the second stage of border demarcation in the direction of Tavush, then the answer is unequivocal: Baku will take that step only when it serves its main maximalist goals.

According to me, Azerbaijan has no reason to hurry, because time works in its favor, and it can extract the fulfillment of another demand with dosed pressure.

In this context, the readiness of the Armenian side to hand over the villages of Tavush under the name of Ankalv, or Tigranashen in the south, is actually a strategic disaster for several reasons. first, the territories that the current authorities are going to hand over or exchange are of vital and strategic importance for us, because they control our interstate roads to Georgia, Iran, we have talked about this several times, secondly, they are destroying the defense structures formed in those territories.

And instead of the Armenian “occupied” lands in Tavush and Gegharkunik, promoting the topic of Artsvashen is, in fact, an information-political manipulation. Artsvashen is located in the depths of Azerbaijan, and in case of de jure getting it back, de facto settlement and security provision there will be almost impossible. And Azerbaijan refuses to even discuss the issue of withdrawing its troops from the sovereign territory of the RA, including Tavush, Syunik, Gegharkunik, Vayots Dzor.

I repeat, until now the process of demarcation and demarcation has been on Baku’s agenda, therefore, even if the process is activated at this moment, there is no basis for optimistic expectations. In other words, the issue of Artsvashen is, of course, not a purely emotional issue, but considering it equivalent in the logic of demarcation with the vital areas of Tavush, Syunik, Vayots Dzor is strategic blindness, political manipulation.”

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