"You can't invade Armenia's territory". Response of the Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia to Aliyev
Armenia’s response to Aliyev’s statement
“You cannot kill an Armenian soldier, invade Armenian territory and then say you are afraid of revanchism,” Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan said.
A day ago Ilham Aliyev said, “Azerbaijan needs guarantees that there will be no attempts of revanchism in Armenia.” Responding to the Azerbaijani President’s statement, Simonyan said that Aliyev “should look for these guarantees in himself and his policy, a lot depends on the Azerbaijani side”.
The Speaker of the National Assembly believes that it is also impossible to refuse meetings, discussions on the peace agreement and at the same time worry “about revanchism”. And if there are such fears, Simonyan suggests Azerbaijan “establish normal relations with its immediate neighbors, which it cannot change”.
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“An amicable agreement can be concluded within five to 10 days”
According to the Speaker, the peace agreement can be signed as soon as possible if Azerbaijan does not delay the process.
“If the Azerbaijani side does not change anything, does not present a new proposal, then of course the agreement can be concluded within a few days.”
He believes that peace can be achieved if the Azerbaijani president starts taking “positive steps, changes his rhetoric and participates in the meetings that are organized on various platforms.”
He says that what matters for Armenia is not what negotiating platform the agreement will be signed on, but that this platform be effective.
Regarding Azerbaijan’s refusal to participate in negotiations on Western platforms, he expressed the following opinion:
“The matter is the consequences of the ethnic cleansing carried out by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. The approaches and methods that international partners saw put Azerbaijan in a rather difficult situation. This is a fact.”
“Baku artificially complicates the process”
Simonyan also touched upon Aliyev’s statement that if Armenia wants to include the issues of the rights of Karabakh Armenians in the draft peace agreement, it should also include the issue of the return of Azerbaijanis who left Armenia:
“Azerbaijan is trying to put on the agenda issues that artificially, perhaps, will make it difficult to conclude a peace agreement. This is a negative trend. The parties know very well what they are negotiating about.”
The Speaker assures that the Armenian side truly seeks peace, not just to sign a paper, and it is not a pretense.
“I don’t rule out that Armenians will go to live in Azerbaijan and vice versa”
The head of the parliament says that manifestation of hatred towards Armenians has become a “brand” in Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, he does not notice such attitude towards Azerbaijanis in Armenia.
“Moreover, oppositionists and journalists accuse Armenian officials of being too loyal to Azerbaijan. Time will pass, and I do not rule out that Armenians will go to live in Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijanis will come to live in Armenia and trade with each other. We are going toward peace, there is no other way,” he said.
For Simonyan, the statements “that this is an unsolvable problem because we had conflicts” are unacceptable. He cites the example of France and England, which “waged war for 116 years” but managed to overcome the conflict.
“Russia does not notice Baku’s mistakes, but in the case of Armenia it reacts very sharply”
As an example, the Speaker recalled the sending of humanitarian aid from Armenia to Ukraine, due to which “there was a lot of noise” in Russia. Although Azerbaijan sent aid to Kiev more than once, “we did not hear a single word from the ‘fair’ Russian Foreign Ministry,” Simonyan said.
He went on to list violations by the Azerbaijani side of points of the November 2020 statement, including the return of prisoners. He also recalled that the Azerbaijani military killed Russian peacekeepers:
“Unfortunately, Russia reacts very sharply in the case of Armenia, while in the case of Azerbaijan it either cannot or pretends not to have noticed in order to save face, the good face in a bad game.”
“The peacekeepers did nothing in Nagorno-Karabakh”
In Simonyan’s opinion, Moscow is trying to keep control of the situation in the region for itself, not realizing that it lost it long ago. He considers the military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023 the most vivid example of this. He says that the Azerbaijani side itself launched the operation, but Moscow’s appeals were addressed to Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“Russia as a partner and guarantor of the November 9, 2020 document did not fulfill its functions. What were the peacekeepers doing, escorting Armenians leaving Artsakh? Was that their function? The peacekeepers did nothing in Nagorno-Karabakh. And there were casualties among them 2-3 hours after the end of hostilities.”
“The Russian side still has a chance”
Armenia still has not received weapons worth hundreds of millions of dollars paid to Russia. According to the parliament speaker, there is a chance to solve the problem of undelivered weapons in the atmosphere of partnership:
“And the Russian side has a chance to show that it remains faithful to its proclaimed principles and signed documents. If the commitments are not fulfilled, which is a fact, Armenia should unequivocally defend its interests”.
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Armenia’s response to Aliyev’s statement
