Andrey Areshev: Azerbaijan seeks to emphasize that the Karabakh issue is closed

Andrey Areshev, the Russian political scientist and the expert at the Strategic Culture Foundation, commented to Alpha News on the military parade organized by the Azerbaijani authorities in Stepanakert.

“I feel, to put it mildly, not really happy about it, for sure, because I visited Nagorno-Karabakh, in particular Stepanakert, more than once. I know these places very well. But at the same time, we need to understand that we have been moving towards this for quite a while. When I say ‘we,’ I mean, first of all, the current Armenian government.

We understand that Azerbaijan achieved its main success in 2020, three years ago. And what happened this September is only the logical conclusion of those, so to speak, military and political-diplomatic achievements of Azerbaijan, the foundation of which was laid in 2020 or earlier because Baku has been working toward this goal for a long time,” the expert said.

Areshev sees a considerable amount of political symbolism in the actions of official Baku, especially in terms of symbolic dates for Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan seeks to emphasize that the Karabakh issue is closed completely, and any negotiations or discussions can be initiated exclusively from the positions demonstrated by Azerbaijan. For the winner, this is quite logical and predictable, so to speak. It would be strange if such demonstrative and symbolic steps were not taken. Especially in the year of the 20th anniversary of Elham Aliyev’s tenure as President of Azerbaijan and in the year of the centenary of Heydar Aliyev and the 30th anniversary, by the way, of Heydar Aliyev’s return to the post of President of Azerbaijan. That is, we see here a lot of such symbolic coincidences and symbolic dates for Azerbaijan,” Areshev emphasized.

When asked about the actions of the Armenian authorities, the political scientist expressed skepticism regarding their active position.

“The question is how the current Armenian authorities will or are going to oppose this issue. I am seriously skeptical about this,” Areshev concluded.