Farhad Mammadov: Baku should remove this precondition from the agenda

According to the Armenian side, it was not without a mishap. Pashinyan, figuratively speaking, turned out to be an outsider at the Turkish feast.

The President of Türkiye ignored Pashinyan, injuring the pride of the “most ancient” people. Azerbaijani political analyst Farhad Mammadov, head of the South Caucasus Research Center, shared his views on this and other issues in a conversation with Minval.az.

The Armenian media emphasized that Pashinyan’s name was not mentioned at Erdoğan’s inauguration along with the other leaders. He was in the second row, which offended the Armenian side. Does this “symbolism” mean that Türkiye does not intend to open its borders with Armenia until there is a final resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan standoff?

The answer to this question should be considered purely from a protocol point of view. The fact is that Erdoğan, in his inaugural speech, mentioned the presidents of the countries that attended the event. But he did not mention the names of the prime ministers. This included the Georgian prime minister and the Hungarian prime minister. However, Erdoğan mentioned them during the gala dinner. So, this should not be taken as a jab at Armenia. As for the normalization of Armenia-Türkiye relations, they are directly linked to the settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations. And under Erdoğan’s leadership, Türkiye will continue to link the normalization of Armenia-Türkiye relations to the resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan problem.

How do you see the development of Russia-Türkiye relations after Erdoğan’s victory in the election in the context of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict?

As for the relations between Türkiye and Russia, I believe Erdoğan will continue to build a pragmatic policy of cooperation with Russia. Türkiye will continue to play an important role in regions where there will be points of contact with Russian interests. Including in the context of the ongoing Armenia-Azerbaijan process. In this context, it should be noted that the role of Türkiye will increase, to the detriment of Russia. And Pashinyan’s participation in the inauguration speaks volumes to that effect.

Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations are proceeding at breakneck speed, changing locations. Brussels, the USA, Moscow, Chisinau. What is your forecast: will the sides come to a common denominator on all points, or will the same old story continue? And if a common language is found, on what platform will that be?

The process is highly dynamic, indeed. And the world centers of power attach great importance to certain items of the Armenian-Azerbaijani agenda, in particular, the peace agreement. This plays into Baku’s hands, as it is in Azerbaijan’s interests to bring the process to its logical end, that is, to sign a peace treaty. As for the Armenian side, if it does not appreciate the chance given by history this time as well, the conditions will be changed. Azerbaijan is seriously engaged in the process, and is gradually removing the obstacles standing in the way of a peace agreement. The Lachin road issue has been resolved with the installation of the border checkpoint, and today the main problem is the presence of illegal Armenian armed groups in the Karabakh region. If Armenia puts forward the dialogue between Baku and Karabakh Armenians as a precondition for signing a peace treaty and recognizing the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, then Azerbaijan should remove this precondition from the agenda and demilitarize the region. I think this is the main component of the messages the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan has been voicing over the last two weeks.

Farid Teymurkhanli

Translated from Minval.az