On February 4, a video conference was held at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron with the participation of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of the European Union Emmanuel Macron, President of the European Council Charles Michel, and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

The meeting between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia took place in the background of different interpretations of the agreements reached between the foreign ministers of the two countries on delimitation and demarcation. It is necessary to note that the requests for the implementation of the agreements reached at the Moscow meeting on January 11 last year were important conditions set by official Baku to Yerevan over the past year. Armenia had to hand over minefield maps to Azerbaijan, open the Zangezur corridor and start preliminary work on delimitation and demarcation of borders with Azerbaijan. As a result of constant pressure by the official Baku over the past year, Yerevan has fulfilled and started to implement some demands of the official Baku. Negotiations on the issue of the delimitation and demarcation are underway. 

The fulfillment of Azerbaijan's demands takes place against the background of the international victory of Baku, where the hopes of the international Armenian diaspora and Hayastan were once again destroyed after the war. Many Armenians hoped that Azerbaijan's victory would be overshadowed by the fact that the trilateral statement would not be recognized by the West and that the United States and France would not reconcile with the new realities in the South Caucasus. However, those mentioned countries hinted at these hopes themselves. During the war and shortly after the end of the war, anti-Azerbaijani speeches were made at some parliaments of the United States, France, and the West. They thought that they would succeed in matters such as “status of Karabakh”, “renouncement of the victory”, and ”Azerbaijan and Turkey are ‘aggressors’”. However, recent events once again showed that even French President Emmanuel Macron has accepted the new reality initiated by Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev and is acting from the interests of Paris in the region, forgetting about his previous speeches.

During yesterday’s dialogue initiated by Emmanuel Macron, Azerbaijan’s interests have been considered once again. Issues of “status” raised by Armenian FM and other politicians have not been included to the agenda, and the terms such as ‘problem’ and ‘conflict’ have not been used. He was Macron, who used expressions such as ‘conflict ', ‘ status’ and ‘Nagorno Karabakh’ more than Nikol Pashinyan in some cases. 

At yesterday’s meeting, the importance of persistence was stressed referring to the agreements reached in Brussels. I want to remind you that at the Brussels meeting, the West has recognized the facts that Azerbaijan liberated its lands and Karabakh was returned to Azerbaijan by force.  

At the same time, for the first time at that time, the fate of the Azerbaijanis, who went missing was raised before Armenia. The non-use of the terms - Minsk Group and Nagorno-Karabakh at the Brussels meeting meant that the EU, and France accepted the provisions set by the official Baku.

Over the two months following Sochi and Brussels meetings, changing geopolitical processes around the region, possible military and political clashes between the West and Russia raise several questions for Azerbaijan and Armenia. As at the Brussels meeting, the official Yerevan one more time witnessed that the West is on the side of Azerbaijan. 

Against the background of the crisis in Ukraine, representatives of the European Union, including French politicians, have expressed their interests in expanding energy cooperation with Azerbaijan, indicating the prospects for new energy and transport projects between our country and the old continent in the next 20 years. Besides, the EU's announcement on the provision of $2 billion to Azerbaijan instead of $ 150 million at the request of  President Ilham Aliyev disappointed Armenia. Undoubtedly, the rising geopolitical and geoeconomic weight of Azerbaijan indicates that Baku will more convincingly achieve its desire on the Karabakh issue among Brussels, Washington, and Moscow.

It is no coincidence that Azerbaijan receives interesting requests both from Russia and the EU. Another renouncement of the topics that Armenia intended to bring to the negotiation table during yesterday's meeting is an indication of what the new negotiation format will consist of. As a continuation of the Brussels peace agenda, detailed discussions were held on the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations. In this regard, in accordance with the pre-determined agenda of the event, the sides exchanged views on various aspects of relations between the two countries, including humanitarian issues, confidence-building measures, the problem of landmines Azerbaijan is facing, the opening of communications, the delimitation and demarcation of borders, the start of talks on a peace agreement.

Apparently, all the above-mentioned issues were Azerbaijan’s calls raised before Armenia. Charles Michel and Emmanuel Macron's joint statements on the meeting did not use the term Karabakh, but instead referred to ‘Zangezur’, ‘corridor’, and the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Both politicians have once again "forgotten" the irritating terms, following Azerbaijan's "road map" for the settlement of the region after the trilateral agreement. It means that Karabakh is not among the topics to be discussed between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the issue of Khankendi, Aghdara, and the regions temporarily controlled by Russian peacekeepers is an internal affair of our country.

In his turn, Azerbaijani leader spoke about the significance of increasing international support to Azerbaijan in mine clearance, noting that 36 civilians died, and 165 injured as a result of the mine explosions following the end of the Patriotic War. During the discussions, President Ilham Aliyev paid special attention to issues of determining the fate of those missing during the First Karabakh War, determining mass graves, and opening a transport corridor by rail and road.

The head of the state underlined that in the years of the first Karabakh war, 3,890 citizens of Azerbaijan were missing, including 71 children, 267 women and 326 old people. 

 In his speech, making remarks about the fate of those missing during the First Karabakh War, locating mass graves, and provision of precise coordinations by Armenia is an indication that the head of the state pays attention to all issues, large and small, and that the Azerbaijani people are important and principled for him. The Azerbaijani leader's use of the term mass graves, hinting at Armenia's vandalism, will once again draw the world's attention to Armenian atrocities within an information war. 

It is necessary to add that the Republic of Armenia has so far avoided providing information on mass graves and hostages during the conflict.

Thus, during the next meeting held between the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders on February 4, we witnessed that the requests of the official Baku have been accepted and the negotiations continue in compliance with the roadmap announced by President Ilham Aliyev. 

Zaur Mammadov, 

Advisor of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, chair of Baku Politicians Club Baku. 

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