MP: Azerbaijan consolidated its diplomatic positions in 2021
By Vugar Khalilov
MP Rasim Musabayov has said that the year 2021 was important for Azerbaijan in terms of diplomatic consolidation of the victory won in the 44-day war of 2020 over Armenia.
He made the remarks in an interview with the Day.az news portal.
Musabayov said that during the meetings held between Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders in Sochi and in Brussels, Azerbaijan was able to insist on the agenda (discussion of the issues related to post-conflict settlement, but not the non-existent status of Karabakh) it was promoting.
The MP said that the unblocking of the transport communications is being discussed in a way that Azerbaijan insisted on (through Meghri) and priority is given to the issues of delimitation of borders, the signing of a peace treaty on the mutual recognition of territorial integrity.
The expert said that with his latest statements that Karabakh had never been an Armenian territory and the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan was not questioned by the international community, Pashinyan actually began preparing the Armenian society for the conclusion of a peace treaty.
“It is difficult to say how quickly this process will proceed, but I think this issue will be relevant next year,” Musabayov added.
Azerbaijan-Turkey
“The next important diplomatic step, I would call the further strengthening of the already strong allied relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey, as evidenced by the signing of the Shusha Declaration. It is not only signed but is being actively implemented. Let us pay attention to the intensity of the diplomatic dialogue between the presidents, foreign ministers, law enforcement and security structures of the two countries. All this raises the level of our alliance. The main thing is that all this is accepted by Russia, Iran and the West. The alliance between Azerbaijan and Turkey is already an established fact of international and regional geopolitics,” Musabayov stressed.
Turkic world
The MP described the transformation of the Turkic Council into the Organization of Turkic States as an important development noting Azerbaijan’s successful chairmanship in the organization in 2021.
Stressing that the full participation of Uzbekistan and observer status of Turkmenistan in the organization, Musabayov said that as an important geopolitical factor the Organization of Turkic States will build up a network of interaction among the member states and will further strengthen it.
Azerbaijan’s leadership in NAM
Musabayov associated the extension of Azerbaijan’s chairmanship in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) with its successful leadership within the organization. He noted that this was partly due to the restriction brought by the pandemic, however, in a large extend it was the recognition of Azerbaijan’s authority within the movement.
The expert stressed that Azerbaijan’s chairmanship “breathed new life” into the organization.
“Given the fact that there is again a split in the world between the opposing centers of influence - the West, led by the United States, on the one hand, and Russia and China - on the other, a new international agenda is opening up for the NAM in these conditions,” Musabayov added.
Relations with neighboring countries
Azerbaijan significantly intensified its traditional strategic partnership with Georgia in 2021. Several official visits took place, including the visit of the Georgian Prime Minister to Baku, a business conference was held with the participation of ministers of economy and representatives of business circles, the MP reminded.
He added that positive developments were observed in relations with Turkmenistan. The problem that took place in connection with the disputed Kapaz-Sardar field was resolved in the interests of both countries and with the mediation of the Turkish president, an agreement (Dostlug) was reached on the joint development of the field, Musabayov underlined.
“By the way, the Russian LUKOIL has expressed a desire to become the operator of the development of this field. And if this happens, it will be possible to say that four post-Soviet countries - Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan - occupy a consolidated position on the Caspian Sea. And this, in my opinion, is a very important fact that will help to bring Iran to a common denominator, which has signed but has not yet ratified the Caspian Declaration,” he added.
The MP said that it remains to take the last step towards removing from the agenda the disagreements and complications over the Caspian Sea.
“In the middle of the year, we observed tensions along the Azerbaijani-Iranian border. As a result of certain actions taken by both Baku and its strategic partners - Turkey, Pakistan and Russia - Iran returned to the recognition of the realities that occurred in connection with the victory of Azerbaijan in the 44-day war,” Musabayov said.
Azerbaijani President met with his Iranian counterpart within the framework of the summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization in Ashgabat and the Iranian Foreign Minister visited Baku.
Musabayov stressed that these diplomatic steps prevented those powers, which were interested in the escalation of tension between Azerbaijan and Iran.
Azerbaijan, EU relations
Musabayov defined the further development of relations with the European Union as an important point for Azerbaijan.
“I think that another important point for Azerbaijan is that it was announced at the Eastern Partnership summit that the text of the agreement between the European Union and Azerbaijan is 90 percent ready and the work can be completed as early as 2022,” he added.
The MP noted that Azerbaijan is interested in having stable and mutually beneficial relations with the European Union and a new legal basis will be put under the agreement once it is signed.
In general, Musabayov described 2021 as an asset of Azerbaijan's foreign policy expressing his positive expectations from 2022 in this regard.
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