Andrey Nikulin: According to Baku’s standards, a willingness to compromise means weakness

Speaking with Alpha News, political scientist Andrey Nikulin commented on Armenia’s proposal to Azerbaijan to sign a non-aggression pact.

According to the expert, it is questionable to expect that it will be possible to agree on disarmament with Azerbaijan.

“This is the problem of Transcaucasian policy. Each of the players, who at a particular moment feels like a strong regional player, refuses to admit that after some time it can lose its positions. Now Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev feels like a winner; he goes with this feeling to the election, and he will win the election. According to Baku’s local standards, a willingness to compromise means weakness, and Aliyev is not ready for this. After the election, we’ll see, there may be some actions or individual steps that he will present not as friendly gestures but as gestures of condescension. But it is questionable to expect that it will be possible to agree on disarmament,” Nikulin said.

According to the political scientist, Azerbaijan will recall its problems after the presidential election, but for now, Aliyev is trying to strengthen his position.

“Aliyev presents to the Azerbaijani public a picture where he solved the Karabakh issue, returned the country’s territories, solved the problem of separatism, defeated a strong enemy that his predecessors, including his father, could not defeat, and made the country a regional leader. It is with this picture that he goes to the election, so that now, while the situation is as convenient as possible for him, he can strengthen his positions. And then the social problems of Azerbaijan—corruption, problems in medicine, underfunding of the periphery and many other problems—will emerge again, which will destroy Aliyev’s authority. So, now he is trying to prove himself as a good leader as much as possible. Today, Baku’s position is as follows: let’s unite around our flag, around our leader, and not think about many unpleasant issues,” Nikulin concluded.