Pashinyan offers Aliyev a deal

For quite a long time, the Armenian authorities have not given a clear answer to the question of whether the Armenian delegation will participate in COP29, which will be held in November in Baku. During the week, for example, the president of the Armenian National Assembly made it clear that the Armenian side would not mind signing the document on the sidelines of the climate conference but noted that the decision is up to Azerbaijan.

The political implication of Simonyan’s statement is that official Yerevan is ready to send a delegation to Baku and take a constructive part in the work of the conference if Baku, for its part, agrees to sign any document that can be presented to Armenian citizens as a peace treaty.

Whether Ilham Aliyev will give any guarantees or not is another matter, but this “coin” has the other side. A potential visit to Baku is a political act that will be nothing more than a legitimization of Azerbaijan’s actions in recent years. And it is not just about what happened to Artsakh. We are talking about actions against Armenia such as the occupation of the Armenian territories, the captivity of Armenian citizens in Azerbaijan, territorial claims against Armenia expressed as the concept of “Western Azerbaijan”, claims against the sovereignty of Armenia expressed in the demand to give the “Zangezur corridor” under the control of Azerbaijan, and undisguised attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of Armenia expressed in demands to change the Constitution, demilitarize, etc. With its visit to Azerbaijan, official Yerevan will acknowledge that this agenda in relations with Baku is acceptable for Nikol Pashinyan.

And note that we are not even talking about the moral side of the issue. Imagine a picture where Pashinyan or Ararat Mirzoyan will smile at the cameras, and just a few blocks from the conference venue, Aliyev will judge the military and political leadership of Artsakh. We are not talking about this because it is obvious that official Yerevan is not interested in the fate of these people; they are not interested in their return, to say the least.

There is another nuance in the situation, which not only the authorities do not want to talk about but also pacifists masquerading as intellectuals who state that “Armenia and Azerbaijan are neighbors” and communication between neighbors is necessary, so “Baku is definitely worth a trip.”

The “opposition intelligentsia”, among other things, apparently does not know how to use search engines and also has not learned how to use a calendar. Over the past two years, there have been at least two cases when Baku agreed on certain matters but then brazenly got away with the violation of the agreements.

In Prague in 2022, Baku, in response to Yerevan’s recognition of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Karabakh, assumed obligations to ensure the rights and security of the Armenians of Artsakh and also pledged to recognize the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia. However, it did not do any of the above.

The second time when Aliyev, in simple terms, “dumped” Pashinyan was in the fall of 2023 when, after the ethnic cleansing in Artsakh, after Armenia allowed Azerbaijan to seize the whole of Karabakh, Aliyev left Pashinyan alone in Granada, where Nikol signed a document recognizing Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

Does Pashinyan have a guarantee that Aliyev will not lure him to Baku to sign a peace treaty under guarantees and will use his visit to demonstrate to the world the “democratic essence of the Azerbaijani regime”, but after the visit will refuse to sign an agreement with Yerevan?

Let’s be frank, the peaceful coexistence of Armenia and Azerbaijan and peace between the countries is good, but ask yourself the question: are Pashinyan’s skills, abilities, and competencies enough to bring this peace?

Think about it…