Aliyev has decided to insure his regime against possible shocks. the expert on the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement and the extraordinary elections in Azerbaijan. "Armenpress.am"

The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, is trying to calculate the possible further developments, because the coming year will be quite turbulent in regional and geopolitical terms and not so predictable as far as possible. Therefore, he decided to insure his regime against possible shocks.

Azeri expert Tatev Hayrapetyan expressed a similar opinion in a conversation with "Armenpress", referring to the early presidential elections expected in Azerbaijan and the process of regulating Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.

"Ilham Aliyev explained in an interview on January 10 that the move to early presidential elections marks the opening of a new era, because the previous plans related to Nagorno-Karabakh have been more than fulfilled, therefore Azerbaijan is facing new problems. Aliyev also noted that these will be the first elections after the independence of Azerbaijan, which will also be held in Nagorno-Karabakh and the territories that have passed under the control of the Azerbaijani side. Aliyev had recorded that he was summing up the twenty years of his rule, therefore, going to the early elections, he reached the mentioned decision by calculating the messages addressed to the internal and external audiences and by stating that the problems can be solved by force, which he adopted in the South Caucasus," said Hayrapetyan.

Addressing the question of why the president of the neighboring country refuses to receive Western envoys interested in the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, refusing to visit Western platforms sometimes, Hayrapetyan emphasized that before the September events of last year, the Azerbaijani side was actively involved in that process and mentioned especially in October 2022 in Prague the meeting held when the official Yerevan recognized the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

"The calculation of the West was that in return for his certain silence and tolerance, Aliyev would go and sign a peace document, which, however, does not correspond to Baku's plans, so Azerbaijan began to adopt an anti-Western policy, accusing the USA and France of being biased. It is no coincidence that Aliyev refused to receive the senior adviser of the USA on Caucasian negotiations, co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Louis Bono. After that, the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Toivo Klaar, did not attempt such a visit, citing that it is an election period in Azerbaijan, although Russian representatives are actively traveling to Baku to meet with Aliyev, who, in turn, considers the Western platforms that require him to recognize Armenia to be problematic. territorial integrity and regulate relations with the Armenian side, which is not actually part of Aliyev's plans," explained the Azerbaijani expert.

According to Hayrapetyan, the leader of the neighboring country realizes that the resolution adopted by the French Senate calling for the imposition of sanctions on Azerbaijan is a mere threat beyond which the West will do nothing.

Full article at the source site.