Interview

"The bilateral format of the border liberalization process has mixed up the playing cards." Gantaharyan

Radar Armenia's interlocutor is Shahan Gantaharyan, an international scholar.

Although Armenia and Azerbaijan have started the border demarcation process with the Tavush region, Aliyev declares that the tripartite declaration should be respected. Azerbaijan should have contact with Nakhichevan under international control and security. Are these two processes about peace?

Moscow, Baku, and Ankara have an agreement regarding the Syunik road. Both Baku and Moscow refer to the November trilateral. The primary purpose of reactivating the Noyemberyan tripartite is to open the Syunik road under Russian control. Aliyev started the border demarcation process in a bilateral format, bypassing Moscow. Aliyev was immediately invited to Moscow, where they probably agreed to discuss the Syunik road problem together. This issue is more complex because other geopolitical players are inhibiting the Armenian side.

- What are the risks of the demarcation process without a peace agreement, and is it possible to carry out complete demarcation and demarcation without the agreement?

- The distinction will be meaningful when, first of all, the Azerbaijani troops leave the sovereign territories of Armenia. There will be no peace process without invading and dictating conditions. Baku will endlessly impose new conditions and demands, and this behavior has been recorded many times.

How do you interpret Aliyev's visit to Moscow, and what developments can be expected from Moscow in the context of settling Armenian-Azerbaijani relations?

- Moscow is worried about Armenian-Azerbaijani bilateral agreements without Moscow agreements. That is why Aliyev was urgently invited to Moscow. On his return to Moscow, Aliyev referred to the reactivation of the tripartite and the operation of the Syunki road under Russian control. In this regard, the responsibility of freezing the issue was brought to the Armenian side, asking, "If now for, some reason the Armenian side does not want the Russian border guard service on the Zangezur corridor, let it openly declare."

A number of Western countries welcomed the Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement on border delimitation, but France did not make any statement. How do you explain the French side's silence?

- France has stated several times that it will protect the territorial integrity of Armenia. Now, it needs to be clarified whether that integrity is preserved or some areas are giving up on it. What further arrangements need to be clarified? Even measuring units of territorial integrity is changing. It is a vague process, and it may take time to find out what points the agreement is based on. However, the start of bilateral negotiations for the collective West means the expulsion of Russian mediation. Moreover, removing Russian border guards from Tavush did not go unnoticed.

Hayk Magoyan