West’s task is ignoring Azerbaijan’s rhetoric - Hans-Jürgen Zahorka

Deployment of peacemakers could be one of the ways to put an end to hostilities along the Line of Contact, Hans-Jürgen Zahorka, Chief Editor of the European Union Foreign Affairs Journal, LIBERTAS European Institute, told Tert.am.

Deployment of peacemakers requires consent of all the sides – NATO will not agree to deployment of Russian peacemakers, while Nagorno-Karabakh will not agree to deployment of NATO peacemakers, who include Turks. Nevertheless, the issue will be put on the EU political agenda.

The West will not make an explicitly addressed statement on the 4-day hostilities as it proved a surprise for them: it was a weekend and they had no accurate data at their disposal.

Armenia’s Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan stated that an agreement on a ceasefire along the Line of Contact was reached in Moscow, with Russia’s intervention. As to whether the West is taking any steps to suppress Azerbaijan’s aggression, Mr Hans-Jürgen Zahorka said that, as a person with a knowledge of this part of the world, he believes that Russia’s official position on Armenia accounts for Moscow’s stance. However, two factors spoil the defensive role.

First, the recent period has seen worsening of Russia-Turkey relations because their societies are not open and they make decisions they want to please their societies.

The second factor is that Russia sold a great amount of weapons to Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijan has now used it against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. This is Russia’s so-called physical position though Russia is showing more favorable attitude to the Armenian side. The problem is that former Russia took Azerbaijan’s side on several occasions, when the Nagorno-Karabakh problem was raised.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan held a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Germany has strong ties with all the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). France is a European Union (EU) member-state that maintains ties with Armenia, and a large Armenian community in France account for that.

One of the problems that needs to be understood is how far Armenia and the EU are ready to progress.
Mr Hans-Jürgen Zahorka has no information on the Armenian president’s meeting with German FM Frank-Walter Steinmeier, but if such a meeting did take place, it would have been with this end in view.

The Armenian president’s decision to discontinue the 4-year-long negotiations with the EU and announce Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) instead of signing an Association Agreement with the EU in September 2013 is considered a blunder – the EEU is not working at all as EEU protagonists are a half-open country without democracy or open society, but with authoritarian or semi-authoritarian regimes incapable of ensuring integration.

Elaborating on the question concerning the West’ steps in addition to condemnatory statements, Mr Hans-Jürgen Zahorka said that the West could not do much. The West’s task has been ignoring Azerbaijan’s rhetoric over this period because it is not the West’s style. The West is well aware statements by Azerbaijan or Turkey or other countries should be taken seriously. On the other hand, the Azerbaijani president and ministers are resorting to militant rhetoric, but Armenia is not responding in any way.