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Qabil Ashirov

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Terror acts that happened on September 19 shook Azerbaijan. As a result of these terror acts 9 Azerbaijanis, of which seven were policemen and 2 were civilians, died. Figuratively speaking, it was the last straw and Azerbaijan was obliged to take some measures. Because these acts were not the first crimes. Armenian armed forces in Garabagh have done plenty of provocations and terror against the Azerbaijani civilians and military personnel. It seems that there are some fractions in Garabagh that are eager to have high tension.

Speaking to Azernews on the issue, Maxime Gauin, Associate Professor at ADA University, and a researcher at the Institute for Development and Diplomacy, noted that some cliques that illegally grabbed the power in Garabagh are interested in provocations. As for ordinary people, like all human beings, they need a safe and prosperous life.

“For that, there is only one way: Becoming Azerbaijani citizens, like 30,000 other ethnic Armenians in Baku and Ganja, like about 100,000 ethnic Russians, thousands of ethnic Georgians, thousands of ethnic Ukrainians, etc. Those who needed it were the small clique controlling the separatist entity because their short-term interest was the continuation of the conflict. The main reason why this small number of persons believed that conflict works for them is that they received weapons and ammunition for free, by convoys escorted by the Russian soldiers,” Maxime Gauin said.

He added that the secondary reason is the aggressiveness of the Iranian government against Azerbaijan. The joint exercise between the Armenian army and the U.S. Army did not help but was a minor event, which took place very recently, after most of the violent actions by the irregular armed forces located in and near Khankendi. He stressed that the circumstances were not as separatists expected.

“Right now, the Azerbaijani government announced an agreement with the separatists and a meeting tomorrow to discuss the details with them. This is of course excellent news. Now, we have to wait for the results of this meeting. The surrender of the illegal forces is in the interest of almost everybody,” he noted.

He also touched the US Senators who express disrespect toward international law and stand with the separatists. M.Gauin pointed out that the U.S. is one of the few democratic countries still implementing the death penalty. However, it was abolished in Azerbaijan twenty-five years ago. He added that there is unfortunately a part of the U.S. senators and representatives ready to say anything, including against the interests of NATO in general and of their own country in particular. “Because these senators and representatives receive support from the Armenian nationalists for their campaigns, in terms of vote and of financial contributions. Unlike in European countries, there is practically no limit to the electoral expenses in the U.S. The total cost of the presidential and legislative elections was three billion dollars in 2000; and fourteen billion in 2020. Another reason is the place (unparalleled in most of the other democratic countries) of fundamentalist religious voters, who often have a very narrow mind. We saw what they can do in domestic policy with the unmaking of the federal guarantee for the right to abortion. The Armenian nationalists cooperate with groups of this kind openly. These people probably ignore the fact that it is much easier to be a Protestant in Baku than in Yerevan,” the pundit noted.

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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov

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