The United States has welcomed Azerbaijani President Aliyev’s stated readiness to grant “amnesty” to Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leaders if they resign and “surrender” to Baku.
Aliyev made the offer on Sunday while again telling the Karabakh Armenians to unconditionally accept Azerbaijani rule and threatening to take military action against them as well as Armenia.
“Everyone knows that we can carry out any [military] operation in that territory [Karabakh,]” he warned. “That is why the [Karabakh] parliament must be dissolved, the element who calls himself the president [of Karabakh] must surrender and all ministers, deputies and other officials must resign. Only then can there be talk of amnesty.”
The Armenian government and Karabakh’s leadership condemned the threats. The Armenian Foreign Ministry said Aliyev not only threatened the Karabakh Armenians with “ethnic cleansing” but is also “preparing the ground for another aggressive action against Nagorno-Karabakh’s population.”
“We recently expressed appreciation for Prime Minister Pashinian’s commitment to peace, and we welcome President Aliyev’s recent remarks on consideration of amnesty,” the U.S. State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, said in a statement issued late on Tuesday.
Miller at the same time stressed: “Aggressive rhetoric can only perpetuate the violence of the past; constructive dialogue — both public and private — can create peace, opportunity, and hope.”
The Armenian Foreign Ministry expressed dismay at the U.S. reaction on Wednesday, insisting that Aliyev’s remarks “contained clear threats” to Armenia’s territorial integrity and the security of Karabakh’s population. Washington “should react appropriately to such statements,” said a ministry spokeswoman.
Aliyev made the threats ahead of his fresh meeting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian scheduled for Thursday. The two leaders will meet together with European Union chief Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the sidelines of a European summit in Moldova.
Aliyev and Pashinian apparently made significant progress towards an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty during their May 14 meeting in Brussels hosted by Michel. Pashinian confirmed afterwards that he is ready to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh.
Pashinian’s stance was hailed by a senior U.S. official but condemned by the Armenian opposition and Karabakh’s leadership. Karabakh’s parliament said on May 22 that any peace deal ignoring the Karabakh Armenians’ right to self-determination would be “null and void” for Stepanakert.
The U.S. had backed that right through peace plans jointly drafted with Russia and France before the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war.
Source: Azatutyun.am
