Arthur Khachikian: No one will give up Azerbaijan’s oil and gas for the interests of Armenians

Azerbaijan understands that no one will give up its oil and gas for the interests of Armenians and therefore continues to exert pressure, Arthur Khachikian, Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University, told Alpha News.

“In this world, everything happens based on power and profit. Azerbaijan speaks from a position of strength, and Azerbaijan has just held a victory parade, commemorating the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Stepanakert. The entire civilized world silently watched from afar. The West even calls it an exodus, not an ethnic cleansing of Armenians. When Armenians are genocided, the world turns a blind eye. Azerbaijan feels that no one will give up its oil and gas for the interests of Armenians and therefore continues to exert pressure,” the political scientist stressed.

Khachikian underscored the importance of these eight villages, or so-called enclaves, for Azerbaijan.

“These enclaves are very important for Azerbaijan; the question here is not about eight villages but about cutting us off from Georgia and Iran and then slowly destroying Armenia. This group that came to power will continue to talk about the ‘crossroads of peace.’ When they give away these enclaves, they will start talking about peaceful concessions, and when 60 thousand Azerbaijanis return to Armenia, they will call it a ‘victorious return.’ They constantly mix black and white. Another tragedy falls on our people’s heads, and they come up with a beautiful name for it,” Khachikian said.

Our interlocutor is convinced that Azerbaijan’s only goal is the destruction of the Armenian state․

“Azerbaijan will not stop. Its goal is to ensure that there is no Armenia and no Armenian statehood. Azerbaijan already claims that Armenia is the territory of Western Azerbaijan. Next will be the ‘crossroads of peace’, which very soon will become the crossroads of the Turkic world since Armenians will no longer play any role in it.

If we want to know what the state and the country’s leader will do in the future, we must look at their previous actions,” Khachikian concluded.