Aliyev and Erdogan will not come to Armenia without preconditions – Grigor Balasanyan

Amid the upcoming elections, the authorities are creating an atmosphere to show that peace has never been closer, international affairs expert Grigor Balasanyan told Alpha News, commenting on the authorities’ intention to invite the presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan to Armenia.

“Aliyev and Erdogan will not come to Armenia without preconditions. Aliyev might come if, for example, he has the opportunity to welcome the 300,000 Azerbaijanis who have moved to Armenia and visit their homes,” Balasanyan said.

Speaking about verbal invitations, the expert noted: “There are different ways and channels for extending an invitation. A verbal invitation can be extended to the leader of a very close ally, for example, during bilateral negotiations. But, as far as I know, neither Erdogan nor Aliyev are officially allies of Armenia. Therefore, a verbal invitation does not comply with established diplomatic protocol.”

According to him, Aliyev will come to Armenia only if a peace agreement is signed on his terms.

“Otherwise, he won’t come, because Azerbaijan would question why he went to Armenia if the peace treaty wasn’t signed on their terms. Therefore, it’s not in Aliyev’s interests, and this invitation will remain hanging in the air. But it will be remembered as a moment in history when the Armenian leadership extended a hand and invited Aliyev to visit Armenia,” he added.