High profile Azerbaijani foreign policy officials, one MP and a minister have given contradictory messages concerning recent developments around Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. On November 10, Azerbaijan and Armenia have signed an armistice mediated by Russia, but many questions remain unanswered.
Azerbaijan, gaining a military victory, received many territories it had lost in a previous war over Nagorno-Karabakh. The region, formally a part of Azerbaijan, but run by Armenian separatists, largely remained under protection of the Russian peacekeeper troops, under the deal.
Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, said no status is mentioned for the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians in the document and there will be none under his presidency.
However, Polad Bulbuloglu, Azerbaijani ambassador to Russia, in his interview with Russian TV, said that ‘a cultural autonomy’ can be granted for the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians. He also commented on the incident of downing Russian military helicopter by the Azerbaijani military at the border with Armenia, which drew the ire of the Foreign Ministry of Russia.
While noting that hitting of the helicopter was an accident, as it was stated with apology by Azerbaijan, Bulbuloglu used an expression ‘at war, as at war’, probably not on purpose, implying that war is made against Russian military.
A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry responded harshly to Bulbuloglu’s words, declaring that ‘had it been as at war, as at war, Russia’s response would be devastating’.
Hikmat Hajiyev, Azerbaijani President’s aide on foreign affairs, slammed Bulbuloglu’s statements, declaring them as ‘unacceptable’. He warned that all Azerbaijani envoys should follow national interests of Azerbaijan, avoiding messages contradicting the president’s policy.
Apparently intending to appease Russia on the helicopter incident, Hajiyev’s rebuke of Bulbuloglu, who is also a popular singer and former culture minister, is an indication of a serious rift among Azerbaijani foreign policy officials.
Hajiyev, who is considered as a rising star of the Azerbaijani diplomacy, has gained popularity for the messages he delivered during the 44 days of war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, won by Azerbaijani army. Some Azeri social media accounts even put Hajiyev’s image next to the President Ilham Aliyev’s, nearly announcing him as a co-winner of the war. According to the Azeri media, he is considered as a shadowy foreign minister, sidelining weak and ineffective Jeyhun Bayramov, current Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan.
There are also allegations that Hikmat Hajiyev achieved his rapid rise to high positions by dumping and denouncing his former colleagues at the diplomatic service.
Another official punished by the authorities for her comment on the Nagorno-Karabakh is Konul Nuriyeva, a member of the Azerbaijani parliament. A disciplinary action has been taken against her for saying that Azerbaijan is not going to demand reparation from Armenia for the war damages.
In another development, Anar Karimov, Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan, said in his twitter account that Dadevank monastery, located in the Kalbajar region of Azerbaijan, is an ancient Albanian church existed in Azerbaijan. The Monastery is considered as Armenian by some Western experts and Armenians themselves.
According to some observers and BBC, such statements, as well as Armenians’ burning houses where they lived before leaving Kalbajar, to be handed over to Azerbaijan, is an indication that ‘hatred is burning’ though the war is over.
Furthermore, controversial statements by high Azerbaijani officials might be an indication that they lack a coherent government policy regarding Nagorno-Karabakh, after Azerbaijan won the war.
