As it is known, in 2020, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces ended the Armenian occupation which lasted for almost 30 years in Azerbaijani territory with the Iron Fist Operation. Azerbaijan resorted to this military option in accordance with 4 binding resolutions of the UN Security Council of 1993 and at the same time duet o the reasons arising from the intentional inactivity of the OSCE Minsk Group in the direction of the solution. Therefore, after the problem was solved by the military way, OSCE Minsk Group was also dead. Thus, the Iron Fist Operation became an operation in which the 4 binding resolutions of the UN Security Council were implemented by Azerbaijan alone.
Tripatrite declarations were signed by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on the dates of 10 November 2020, 11 January 2021 and 26 November 2021. These documents stipulate the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the establishment/repair of transportation-communication lines, and the most importantly, the delimitation and demarcation of the state border of the two countries. Negotiation meetings were held at the level of Deputy Prime Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in this regard. In February 2022, Azerbaijan proposed five principles that could lead to the negotiation process towards the peace agreement to Armenia. These were the reciprocal recognition of the territorial integrity of the states, the refraining from territorial claims and the use of force, the repair/establishment of transportation-communication lines, the delimitation and demarcation of borders and the establishment of diplomatic relations. Unfortunately, there has not seen any tangible steps of Armenia.
In parallel, 4 meetings were held in Brussels between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia with the mediation of Charles Michel, President of the European Council. Following the 4th Brussels meeting of August 31, statements at the highest level from both countries were heard regarding the completion of the text of Peace Agreement in this year. Hopes for the achievement of signing of the peace agreement between the two countries flourished.
However, the fact that the Armenian side has been reluctant to take concrete steps in line with the agreements reached under both the Russian Federation and the European Union’s mediation since 2020, seems to have opened doors to many negative factors. Unfortunately, we observe that no steps are taken towards peace by Armenia, on the contrary, it tries to make statements and activities that impedes peace, even though it suffers great losses every time.
Nancy Pelosi, President of the US House of Representatives, made a visit to Armenia on September 17-18 with some Congress members which are Armenian origin and close to Armenian lobbying groups. N. Pelosi poured “tears” in front of the so-called “genocide” monument, which is a completely distant from the reality and deemed as the genuine political and financial rent. She supported Armenia and made slanderous statements against Azerbaijan during her visit. It is not difficult to understand these “tears” that flowed before the elections to the US Congress in November.
The most important thing is that the first “fruits” of “supporting” statements and “tears” for Armenia appeared as brutal attacks by Armenian nationalists against the Embassies of Azerbaijan in various countries. It is easy to predict that this support and encouragement will manifest in the form of other negative political, social, and legal activities against Turkey and Azerbaijan in the medium and long term. In addition, other important issue that should be worrying for the scientists working in the field of political sciences, especially for the democracy theorists, is that the peace process between other countries that are thousands of kilometers away from the USA can be undermined through the “necessity/incentive” of the election mechanism for the sake of domestic political interests of the USA. In this regard, it is essential to accelerate the doctrinal studies of democracy theorists.
Returning to our subject, the Iron Fist Operation and other military operations that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces had to carry out in the last two years are attempts to force Armenia, which is the subject of international law, to comply with the international law that it must to comply with. In other words, in the last 30 years, Armenia has been blatantly disregarding international law, as it has been encouraged by various countries` “democratic electoral mechanisms” and other motives. Therefore, we can say that those countries that encourage Armenia are also partners in its murders.
In fact, it is not difficult to wake up from the hypnotic situation that this encouragement and “flattery” has created for Armenians in Armenia. On the one side, diaspora Armenians, who live in a much better economic situation than the population in Armenia, on the other side, the actors of the “democratic election mechanism” and on the third side as the victim, there is Armenia, whose population is decreasing day by day due to economic difficulties and can survive with financial aid. It becomes easier to understand to whom this “encouragement” is beneficial.
Armenia lost nearly 400 soldiers only during the clashes that broke out when Armenian soldiers crossed the Azerbaijani border and laid mines in the Azerbaijani territories on 12-14 September. Doesn’t Armenia need to think a bit now? The Nagorno-Karabakh Problem was resolved in 2020. Such a problem no longer exists. The “encouragement” of those who could not take a role in the solution of this problem or the attempt to resurrect the dead Minsk Group promises Armenia nothing but a new and more severe isolation process.
Dr. Elsevar SALMANOV
