What did the Secretary General of NATO say in Yerevan, Baku and Tbilisi?

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg concluded his regional visit by declaring that peace and stability in the South Caucasus are important for security in a broader sense.

Let's remind that the head of the North Atlantic Alliance started his visit from Azerbaijan, then he was in Georgia and finally in Armenia. This is Jens Stoltenberg's first visit to the region since 2020.

"Detq" singled out the main messages of the visit and studied the reaction of the NATO chief official's statements in the public sphere of Armenia.

What did Stoltenberg say in Baku?

NATO Secretary General met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, and Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov in Baku. As a result of the meetings, the official stated that after years of conflict, Armenia and Azerbaijan now have a chance to achieve stable peace.

Stoltenberg wrote in X: "I call on Azerbaijan and Armenia to take advantage of the opportunity to establish lasting peace. I was happy to meet the President of Azerbaijan in Baku. Azerbaijan is a long-standing NATO partner, and I look forward to further strengthening the partnership. Peace and stability in the South Caucasus are important for broader security. I call on Azerbaijan and Armenia to take advantage of the opportunity to establish lasting peace."

He also announced that Azerbaijan plays an important role in ensuring NATO's energy security by supplying gas to six countries of the alliance. Apart from that, he highly appreciated Baku's support in solving the planet's climate problems, reminding that the UN climate conference "COP29" will be held in Azerbaijan in November. At the end, the NATO official thanked Azerbaijan for participating in the alliance's missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan.

In an interview with "AzTV" TV channel, Stoltenberg said that NATO is not a mediator in the negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, but stands for long-term peace between the two countries. "Long-term peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia is very important. During our meeting yesterday, President Ilham Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan and Armenia are closer to peace than ever, and I fully support it," he said.

What did the Secretary General of NATO say in Tbilisi?

After Baku, Stoltenberg went to Georgia. It should be noted that Georgia itself has the closest cooperation with the alliance in the region. Tbilisi officially seeks to join the military alliance, and the corresponding goal is enshrined in the country's constitution. Back in 2007, the leadership of Georgia applied for NATO membership. In response, the alliance said that one day it will definitely happen, but so far no specific dates have been mentioned.

In Tbilisi, NATO Secretary General met with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and President Salome Zurabishvili. As a result of the meetings, the official noted that Georgia is one of the close partners of the alliance and now "faces serious security challenges".

"We unequivocally defend the territorial integrity of Georgia. South Ossetia and Abkhazia are territories of Georgia. NATO continues to call on Russia to cancel the recognition of Georgian territories as independent states," Stoltenberg said.

According to him, NATO stands by Georgia "while you continue to move towards stronger democracy and full Euro-Atlantic integration, including the 2008 Bucharest decision that Georgia will become a member of the NATO alliance."

Jens Stoltenberg in Yerevan

The last stop of the NATO official's regional visit was Yerevan, where Stoltenberg had meetings with RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Vahagn Khachaturyan, and gave interviews to the Armenian media at the end of the visit.
It is noteworthy that, unlike the meeting in Azerbaijan, Stoltenberg did not meet with the Minister of Defense in Yerevan, which also speaks of NATO's South Caucasian priorities.

The official in Yerevan stated that he supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia, and also noted that he considers it realistic that Yerevan and Baku can achieve lasting peace. However, later during an interview with the Public Television, he emphasized that NATO is not a mediator between Yerevan and Baku and cannot bring proposals to the negotiation table.

During the same interview, the official also stated that Turkey is an ally of NATO, and Armenia is an important partner. "One of the reasons why we support the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations is that we believe it will also help to normalize Armenia-Turkey relations."

It is interesting that in Stoltenberg's statements in Yerevan, the anti-Russian emphasis was noticeable. In particular, he said that Russia's war in Ukraine is a sobering reminder that we cannot help but value peace. "I welcome your solidarity with Ukraine and call on our partners to do everything in their power to prevent Putin from winning his war of aggression. The situation on the battlefield remains difficult, which is why we need to increase, not decrease, our support. If Putin succeeds in Ukraine, there is a real risk that his aggression will not stop there, and other authoritarian entities will be inspired by it," Stoltenberg noted.

Agnesa Khamoyan, a member of the National Assembly "Armenia" faction, made a Facebook post regarding the anti-Russian message of the NATO official, noting: "When we say that Armenia cannot be turned into a theater of geopolitical conflict, this is exactly what we mean. Is the purpose of Stoltenberg's visit to expand the anti-Russian front in Armenia itself? What is the price of this statement and who will pay it?

My questions are rhetorical, the answers are more than obvious (in Baku, for example, the same NATO Secretary General stated: "The close cooperation of the Azerbaijani army and the Turkish armed forces will greatly contribute to the deepening of relations with NATO").

Vahe Hovhannisyan, a member of the "Alternative Projects" group, expressed the following opinion regarding that statement. "When Stoltenberg says in Yerevan, ``I welcome your solidarity with Ukraine,'' he means that he welcomes our and Ukraine's united destinies.

In Baku, he does not allow himself to say such a thing, because he would get an answer immediately. And the fate of Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa is looming over Yerevan.
There is a way to prevent this. you just have to stand up for the country. Our country needs de-escalation at the country's borders and within the country.

Azerbaijanologist Tatevik Hayrapetyan also drew attention to the fact that only during his visit to Baku, the NATO official had a separate meeting with the Minister of Defense and the Head of the Foreign Ministry. "The meetings in Tbilisi and Yerevan were more ceremonial than practical and practical. The Minister of Defense was present at the extended meeting in Yerevan, but there was no separate meeting. As far as I know, the same thing happened in Tbilisi. In Baku, Stoltenberg welcomed Turkish-Azerbaijani military cooperation. The intensity of the meetings and the messages made in Baku suggest that Azerbaijan is actually ready to become a platform against Iran, and why not, against Russia as well, if in return it "wrests" a good price from the West. In fact, Aliyev tries to sit on two chairs at the same time, and this makes him much more vulnerable. There are many episodes that suggest that Armenia has ways out, solutions to get out of this humiliation, it remains to use it, knowing, pro-state people come to power."