Armenian PM’s wife invites Azerbaijani First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva to Karabakh – but with conditions
The wife of the Prime Minister of Armenia has put forward to the first lady of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva an unexpected offer to go to Karabakh together in response to the post of Mehriban Aliyeva on the Telegram social network.
There have not yet been any reactions from Baku to the invitation.
“Our only dream is to listen to Karabakh shikeste [ed. one of the types of Azerbaijani folk mugam songs] together on the Karabakh land!” Wrote the first lady of Azerbaijan, who also holds the post of vice president, on December 2.
Although the post did not have a specific addressee, the wife of the Prime Minister of Armenia responded to it on December 4.
“I invite Mehriban Aliyev to Artsakh, and she will be our guest. Our people, Artsakh residents, know how to receive and how to respect guests. … We can provide mugham, we can fulfill her dream, and she will hear her beloved mugham in Karabakh,” Anna Hakobyan said, speaking in Yerevan at the international conference on the resolution of the UN Security Council “Women, peace and security ”.
However, she said, if the dream is to come to Karabakh to listen to mugham as a result of the war – “such a dream will remain unfulfilled.”
“If they start a new war, in all likelihood, new settlements will arise, where listening to the mugham will become an unrealistic dream for them. … There is only one way to achieve this dream – this is peace, it is friendly relations with Artsakh and mutual visits as guests,” said Anna Hakobyan.
And she added that she was ready to pay a return visit to Baku.
So far, neither Mehriban Aliyev, nor any official structures have responded to Anna Hakobyan’s words.
Unprecedented intensification of bilateral contacts between Azerbaijan and Armenia
In the fall of 2019, bilateral Armenian-Azerbaijani contacts at various levels sharply intensified.
On November 17-21, visits of two journalists from Armenia and one from Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan, as well as three Azerbaijani journalists to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, took place.
The last time Armenian journalists went on an organized trip to Azerbaijan was in 2001.
On December 4, according to the Prime Minister of Armenia, an official delegation of Armenia left for Baku to participate in the 14th meeting of TRASECA, as well as a conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the structure. Although official Baku has not yet confirmed the arrival of the Armenian delegation, it has not refuted it either.
TRASECA is a cooperation program that was proposed by the European Union in 1993. Its task is to develop a transport corridor from Europe to the countries of Central Asia through the Black Sea, the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea, a kind of revival of the ancient Silk Road.
The last time Armenian officials visited in Baku in 2017.
Then, at that time, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Armenian Parliament Armen Ashotyan and MP Mane Tandilyan visited the conference of the Euronest parliamentary assembly in Baku.
Also on December 4, a meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan was held.
Elmar Mammadyarov and Zohrab Mnatsakayan are located in Bratislava. The OSCE Ministerial Conference is held here. Within the framework of this event, a meeting of the Foreign Ministers will be held with the mediation and participation of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is an unrecognised republic in the South Caucasus, the majority of the population of which are ethnic Armenians. Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of the Armenian side along with the adjacent territories as a result of hostilities in 1991-1994. The conflict is considered “frozen,” but skirmishes continue on the line of contact between the troops, resulting in fatalities.
