On May 2, in Brussels, the meeting of Armen Grigoryan, the head of the Security Council of Armenia, with the assistant to the President of Azerbaijan Hikmet Hajiyev will take place. “We will discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations,” Armen Grigoryan said on the air of Azatutyun TV. He gave a positive outcome to the meeting and will allow organizing the Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting.
“If we can get answers to all these questions in Brussels, then we can also discuss a meeting at the level of country leaders in Brussels,” he said. Grigoryan did not specify what issues are to be discussed and agreed upon. The answer to this was partially given by the leadership of Armenia, represented by Pashinyan, who said a week ago that the five settlement points proposed by Azerbaijan were acceptable to Yerevan. Thus, he indirectly admitted that Yerevan is ready to recognize Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan. However, this statement drew sharp criticism from opponents of Pashinyan, as well as separatist leaders in Karabakh.
On Friday, Pashinyan met with the leaders of the Armenians of Karabakh in Yerevan. As a result, Pashinyan said that he highly appreciates the statement of the “president” of Karabakh Arayik Harutyunyan that “the authorities of Karabakh are also adopting a peaceful agenda. An agenda for peace is not an agenda for defeat. The peace agenda is an agenda for overcoming the horrors of war and the difficulties arising from it, ensuring security, rights, and the future of the people. I am glad that the authorities of Artsakh share this agenda,” the Prime Minister said.
In turn, Harutyunyan stated that Karabakh will not retreat from its right to self-determination. He also added that any option should be supported by the people. He also noted security guarantees and socio-economic programs as fundamental points.
It should be noted that in the statements of the leadership of Armenia and Karabakh there is no longer a demand for independence. There are also no statements that Karabakh cannot exist as part of Azerbaijan.
Instead, the Armenian side insists on: the constant presence of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh, the rejection of the direct subordination of Karabakh to the Azerbaijani authorities, as well as political and economic independence. In addition, the international community represented by the UN, the OSCE should give security guarantees and ensure the cultural and other rights of the Armenians of Karabakh. In fact, this is an attempt to restore some kind of NKAO – the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region. However, such expectations contradict the position of Baku.
Source: Turan News Agency