Analysts in Baku and Yerevan link escalation with upcoming meeting in Brussels

By means of military conflicts on the border, Azerbaijan is trying to increase pressure on Yerevan, the Armenian analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe. The escalation on the eve of the meeting at the Eastern Partnership summit is beneficial to Armenia, as it can change the agenda of the meeting, the Azerbaijani political observer believes.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that shootouts near the border between the Kelbadjar District of Azerbaijan and the Gegarkunik District of Armenia have been taking place every day since December 8.

Provocations on the borders of both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have been happening for 27 years, said Ovsep Khurshudyan, a political analyst.

"Before the 2020 autumn war, it was a strategy of supporting the conflict so that no one would forget that there is a conflict and that the status quo cannot last forever ... Now, Azerbaijan continues its policy of military-political pressure aiming to obtain the results that it failed to achieve during the war – the signing of a peace agreement and demarcation and delimitation of the borders," Mr Khurshudyan told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Until there is a real process in the implementation of trilateral agreements on the opening of transport communications and border delimitation, the likelihood of armed clashes will remain high, Tofig Tyurkel, a political observer of the "Turan" News Agency, has noted.

He has suggested that the escalation of the situation on the border before the meeting in Brussels is beneficial for Armenia. "A military aggravation can change the agenda of the meeting and divert the talks from discussing the border delimitation and opening transport communications to reaching agreements on de-escalation," Mr Tyurkel believes.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 11, 2021 at 02:18 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.