Official Baku seeks to raise the stakes — Andrey Areshev

Speaking with Alpha News, Russian political scientist Andrey Areshev commented on the recent statements by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev regarding the territory of the so-called “Western Azerbaijan” and the need to populate it with Azerbaijanis.

“The topic of the so-called Western Azerbaijan has been promoted on the shores of the Caspian for quite some time. The Aliyev government is creating respective public organizations, and various experts are periodically making statements about a certain government of ‘Western Azerbaijan’ and even about the creation of some armed formations. Even though all this should be regarded as rhetoric, it is also a lever of pressure on the Armenian authorities, whose weakness Baku is rushing to take advantage of and, in fact, does not particularly hide it.

This statement can be interpreted in different ways. It can be compared in some way with the statements from Yerevan about the high level of readiness to sign a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But in any case, some games are going on. Baku is obviously trying to raise the stakes. It is quite difficult to say what has actually been agreed between Baku and Yerevan, but the very fact that Aliyev has raised the issue, voicing this topic at the state level, demonstrates that Baku is quite determined,” the expert said.

According to Areshev, the Azerbaijani side has tested the waters and knows which weak points in Armenia it can press to achieve its interests.

“The parties act based on their capabilities. If Baku declares such things, it means it has some reason to believe that Yerevan will listen. And what Armenia will respond to is a question for the authorities of this country,” Areshev said.

Touching upon the concerns of some part of the Armenian society regarding the possible neighborhood of the Azerbaijani and Armenian populations in Armenia, Andrey Areshev noted that propaganda will play the main role here.

“In the current situation, anything is possible. In the case of serious propaganda, society can agree to quite a lot. Any society, not only Armenian,” he concluded.