The Armenian side also reported one separatist killed and eight wounded.
Commenting on the situation in the region, political analyst Farhad Mammadov said that after the meeting in Tbilisi President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev had made ultimatum-like statements.
“This meant that Baku was tired of waiting and wanted concrete solutions. The Armenian side made a number of statements, which after the war could create a fertile ground, a climate conducive to the negotiation process. But they did that very late,” Mammadov said.
According to him, Armenia recently announced again the withdrawal of its troops from Karabakh and the separation of the issue of Karabakh’s status from the relations with Azerbaijan.
“For Baku, these statements sound too vague. What do they mean by the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan? What armed groups will remain in Karabakh? There is no clarity about this. I think that the information that comes in is a provocation of Karabakh Armenians in order to slow down the processes, and secondly, to influence the opinion of official Yerevan,” the analyst stressed.
The expert believes that Pashinyan’s own opinion is likewise unclear, since the heads of the Armenian Security Council made statements when the Prime Minister was on vacation.
“The war criminals in Karabakh are controlled from Armenia. If the separatists go rogue, aggravating the situation in Karabakh, then it aligns with the mood in Yerevan. The military component was never taken off Azerbaijan’s agenda, so all provocations will be suppressed harshly,” the expert pointed out.
“I think if the Armenian side insists on the presence of its armed forces in Karabakh, regardless of what they are called, Azerbaijan will do its best to eliminate this problem. This much is obvious,” political analyst Ilgar Velizadeh commented on the matter.
He recalls that even before the war, we said that if Armenia did not withdraw from the occupied territories, then Azerbaijan would do everything to liberate its lands.
“As long as there are Armenian armed groups in Karabakh, Azerbaijan has the right to take adequate action. No state in the world would tolerate such a thing. The Armenian side had every opportunity to resolve this issue diplomatically, and the negotiations were going on in different tracks. However, apparently, they do not fully accept Baku’s conditions, which is the reason behind the escalation in the region,” the expert concluded.
Nijat Hajiyev
Translated from Minval.Az
