“My words are written on that mountain, the iron fist is in place, let no one forget about it.” These were the words of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan who during a visit Sunday to the occupied Kelbajar region once again threatened Armenia with war.
He accused Yerevan of delaying talks on the delimitation and demarcation of borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan and warned that Armenia “will regret it” if it continues to “procrastinate” the process.
Speaking to military officials, Aliyev boasted Azerbaijan’s potential, saying that he is replenishing the military with new forces and weapons capabilities. This goes counter to his public statements following meeting with international leaders,
“We do not want war, we never wanted it. But we want our interests to be safeguarded. We want everyone to accept the post-war realities. I can say that the world’s leading powers have already accepted them and are acting accordingly. Armenia must accept the reality,” said Aliyev.
Of course, Aliyev did not specify which world powers have accepted Baku’s ideas, according to which the Karabakh conflict no longer exists and all that is left is for Armenia and Azerbaijan to normalize relations.
Since the end of the 44-Day war, the OSCE Minks Group co-chairs from France and the United States have repeatedly stated that Karabakh conflict has not been resolved and have urged the sides to negotiate a resolution.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, echoed Azerbaijan’s position last week when he was visiting Baku. He blamed the West for stalling the process and said that the proposals by the mediators were no longer relevant, given the emergence of new realities, which presumably was a reference to the current military conflict in Ukraine.
“The proposals that have been discussed for many years without visible results have lost their relevance. The events that took place left those documents behind, it is just an objective reality,” Lavrov said.
In April, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, in a joint statement with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reaffirmed the importance of using the potential and experience of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in accordance with its international mandate.
On Monday, Pashinyan fired back by saying that Azerbaijani leaders were deliberately making provocative statements to continue the blockade of Armenia and create legitimacy for another war.
He accused Baku of not conforming to agreements to open transport links between the countries, as well as its posturing toward the delimitation and demarcation of borders.