Baku: Today, the efforts for durable peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia have become the
hostage of Armenia’s policy of deliberate tension and revanchism, and face serious
challenges.
Despite its first failure in December 2022, Armenia once again attempts to
instrumentalize the UN Security Council for its political, military and informational
manipulation campaign.
Moreover, Armenia is a country that had for almost 30 years brazenly disregarded the
four resolutions of 1993 and a series of Presidential Statements of the Security Council
demanding full, immediate, and unconditional withdrawal of occupying forces from the
the territory of Azerbaijan.
Armenia’s appeal to the Security Council on groundless allegations of “worsening
humanitarian situation” and “continued blockade” in the region yet again comes at a
the time when Armenia itself deliberately and intentionally obstructs all the efforts made
through international partners to find a balanced, law-based, and reasonable solution on
the ground.
As it is well-known, wide-range abuse of the Lachin road by Armenia over the past three
years necessitated Azerbaijan’s legitimate and legal action of establishing a border
check-point to ensure security and order on its border. While Armenia attempted to
portray these efforts as a “blockade” and requested the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
to issue an order on removal of the checkpoint, the ICJ in its order of July 6 has
unanimously rejected this request.
Armenia did not reconcile with the reality of being deprived of the means to supply and
sustain its not fully withdrawn armed forces in the territory of Azerbaijan, and illicitly
extract Azerbaijan’s natural resources. Therefore, Armenia has started propaganda
campaign worldwide imposed a series of military and other obstructions to the normal
functioning of the border check-point, as well as for the use of other routes, such as
Aghdam-Khankendi road for the delivery of goods to the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan.
Recently, following a series of intensive consultations and shuttle diplomacy efforts,
the agreement was finally reached with respect to the delivery of humanitarian cargo to the
Garabagh region through various routes, as well as the organization of the meeting
between the Special Representative of Azerbaijan and representatives of local
Armenian residents.
In the first case, concrete blocs and all other physical barriers imposed by the
Armenian side on the use of the Aghdam-Khankendi road should have been removed to
allow the delivery of humanitarian cargo by the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) to meet the needs of local residents. This should have been followed by
the intensification of usage of the Lachin road by the ICRC within 24 hours. All the involved
parties, including the Russian peacekeeping contingent and the ICRC, were prepared to
realize this deal in practice.
On the second, a meeting between Azerbaijan’s Special Representative and
representatives of local Armenian residents agreed to take place in Yevlakh.
Regrettably, on August 5, 2023, Armenia, through its illegally installed puppet regime,
backstepped from both agreements at the last moment by introducing politically motivated
and illegitimate preconditions and various pretexts.
In other words, what Armenia cynically seeks from the international community in
general, and the UN Security Council in particular, was indeed within reach days ago as
the result of the active support of partners, including the members of the Security Council. This
did not materialize only due to the refusal by Armenia itself.
Had Armenia and its subordinate illegal structure honored the agreement, the situation
would have been solved in early August providing a reasonable framework for the
delivery of humanitarian cargo to the residents of the Garabagh region, and facilitation
of routes for the passage of persons, goods, and vehicles.
Therefore, there should be no doubt that notwithstanding the intensive engagement by
Azerbaijan with the Russian Federation, the United States, European Union, and ICRC
for finding ways out of the situation, Armenia is deliberately obstructing diplomatic
efforts.
Appeal to the Security Council is a part of this campaign and is a serious blow to the
efforts being made by involved actors, among them the members of Security Council.
In addition to this pattern, over the past weeks, the Armenian armed forces illegally
deployed in the territory of Azerbaijan in a blatant violation of international law, as well
as Armenia’s commitment under paragraph 4 of the Trilateral Statement of the leaders
of Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation, and Armenia of 10 November 2020, have
intensified the military-engineering works and other military build-up.
The use of radio-electronic warfare equipment illegally deployed in the sovereign
the territory of Azerbaijan is of particular concern. Not only civilian aircraft of the
Azerbaijani Airlines, but also those of foreign countries have been targets to radio-
electronic interference over the past weeks, posing a serious risk to their safety.
In parallel to illegal military build-up and activities in the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan
where the Russian peacekeeping contingent has been temporarily deployed, large-
scale accumulation of weaponry and other military equipment and personnel along the
undelimited state border has been also observed over the past days in an apparent effort to
go into another military adventure.
The above-mentioned fully resembles the pattern that had been typical to Armenia
throughout almost 30 years until September 2020 to imitate talks, escape from
previously undertaken commitments at the last minute, and committed political, military and
other provocations at every stage of negotiation to evade taking concrete
decisions.
Moreover, such actions of Armenia testify to the fact that Armenia didn’t cease its
territorial claims against Azerbaijan and her verbal recognition of Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity is different from her deeds on the ground.
Following the 2020 war, Azerbaijan offered peace to Armenia based on equal and
reciprocal respect for the legitimate interests of both sides through mutual recognition of
and respect for each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and inviolability of borders.
On another track, Azerbaijan pursues the policy of reintegration of ethnic Armenian
residents of the Garabagh region as equal citizens guaranteeing all the rights and
freedoms envisaged in the Constitution of Azerbaijan and all relevant international
human rights mechanisms that Azerbaijan is a signatory. At the same time, Azerbaijan’s
adherence to both these tracks is without prejudice to its right to defend its sovereignty
and territorial integrity by all legitimate means safeguarded in the UN Charter and other
universal international law instruments.
At this critical juncture, sober apprehension of existing risks and adequate response by
international community to Armenia’s brazen provocations are more necessary than ever to
overcome the challenges facing the inter-state Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization
process and the reintegration of local ethnic Armenian residents into Azerbaijan’s
political, legal, and socio-economic framework.
It is important to ensure that the historic opportunity for durable peace is not missed.