‘We got the most we possibly could’ – comments from Baku politicians, observers

JAMnews

Baku

A trilateral Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian statement concerning the signing of a truce in Karabakh announced last night caused mixed reactions in Azerbaijani society.

The majority of the public is celebrating a victory, but various politicians and observers negatively assess the introduction of Russian peacemakers entering Karabakh.

Below, a sample of prevailing opinions about the truce.

“A morning of Great Victory! The second phase of military actions in Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict that started 32 years ago is over. As a result, 99% of internally displaced persons will receive the possibility to return home and start a new life in their homeland. I hope and I am sure that families of my compatriots will stop burying their children. We will have the opportunity for the stable development of our country!

But this is still not the end of the conflict, and we will continue our fight for the full reconstruction of our country’s sovereignty on the entire territory of Azerbaijan.

Politics is the art of the possible, and today we received the most we possibly could”, writes former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Tofik Zulfugarov.

“Of course, we are witnessing victories of our glorious army. The moment it was already choking the enemy, Putin interferes (in the past I mentioned this possibility many times) and forced the sides into a truce. People celebrate the return of settlements and territories that were ceased 28 years ago, and that’s understandable.

“Today all our hopes are for the USA and the West. They have already forced the USSR to its knees once and created conditions for us to restore our sovereignty. Today they can make Russia kneel and allow us restore our full sovereignty over Khankendi. Anything else seems very difficult to me”, shared his opinion a well-known opposition actor and former political prisoner Tofik Yagublu.

“If something is agreed upon and announced in the middle of the night, secretly from the public, without consultations with the parliament, the public, it is very suspicious.

Armenia would have never managed to occupy even one of our villages and hold it under occupation for 30 years on its own. Everyone, including the president, knows well and spoke about the fact that weapons were sent for free to Armenia. Everyone understood that weapons fired at our soldiers in Karabakh, as well as rockets fired at the peaceful population of Ganja, Terter, and Barda are the very free of charge weapon provided by Russia. In reality Karabakh was occupied not by Armenia, but by Russia. Pashinyan also danced in Shusha, hoping for Russia’s help.

And what are Russian troops doing in Azerbaijan now? If there were a need for peacemakers, this could have been done by the military of neutral countries.

During the 11-hour-long negotiations in Moscow, Azerbaijan actively opposed the offer to bring in Russian peacemakers. If we were going to agree, we could have stopped the fight a month ago, and fewer Azerbaijani soldiers would have died from free Russian weapons. Why didn’t we agree?

I’m sorry I can’t be as happy as everybody else. These and one hundred other questions don’t leave me in peace.

When you get tired of beeping and dancing in the street, think about it too”, wrote blogger Bakhtiyar Gajiev on his Facebook page.

“The 45-day-long war was won by Azerbaijan, lost by Armenia, but same as the last 200 years, Russia is the one who won in the region. Something like that…”, writes one of the leaders of the opposition party Republican Alternative Natig Jafarli.

“Be it with the mediation of the Kremlin, but it is a victorious agreement. Russia wouldn’t let Azerbaijan have full victory, and it is exactly what happened.

Of course, leaving Khankedi, Khojavend (Martuni), Agdere (Mardakert), and Askeran as Armenian settlements doesn’t comply with national interests. Placing foreign military on the territory of Azerbaijan also harms its sovereignty and independence.

But the conclusion of the discussion on the status of Karabakh and creation of conditions for communication with Nakhichevan is a huge success”, concluded well-known Azerbaijani lawyer Alovsat Aliyev.