“In an interview with Euronews, President Aliyev clearly articulated the essence of what should be undertaken to achieve a durable peace: Armenia should relinquish all its aspirations fixated on Karabakh, not merely expressing its readiness to recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity formally at some point in the undefined future, but also by taking practical steps - known by the cognoscenti who have viewed the interview - culminating in the conducive atmosphere for the signing of a legally-binding document,” Azerbaijani political analyst Orkhan Amashov said in an interview with News.az.

Mr Amashov noted that President Ilham Aliyev’s explanation as to why the majority of humanitarian supplies to Khankendi and its outskirts should proceed from Aghdam was lucid and eminently convincing: “It is abnormal that Armenians based in the Azerbaijani Karabakh region remain in limbo, with the illegal separatist clique based in Khankendi exploiting them for a hopeless venture. This situation cannot continue indefinitely. What is also abnormal is that the ICRC’s office in Khankendi is answerable to the organization’s Yerevan office, not the Baku office. This should be addressed forthwith.”

“Aliyev’s message to the Armenian residents of Karabakh was imbued with realism, cold reason, but also - and I believe this is vital - great humanity and compassion. What Baku offers is reasonable and viable. The Azerbaijani leader referred to security guarantees, backed up with a complete package of cultural, economic, educational, and municipal rights, without any prejudice to Azerbaijan’s unitary character and in complete conformity with the existing constitutional arrangements. The offer is generous, and, in my understanding, its detailed version has already been conveyed to Yerevan, which will need to ditch its demands centered around an international mechanism protecting the allegedly maligned rights of the Armenian residents of the region. President Aliyev walks the walk and talks the talk and, of that, there is no doubt. It is just that those living in Karabakh and their alleged benefactors and supporters should grasp this too,” said a political analyst.

O. Amashov stated since Anelise Borges of Euronews interviewed both President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan around the same time, it would perhaps behove one to reflect on a comparison of the lines of reasoning employed by the two leaders: “Aliyev was composed, attentive to those details that could be revealed publicly and substance-oriented in essential precepts of peace. Pashinyan, in contrast, quibbled, digressed, and failed to make much sense, except for a few snatches of lucidity. Embodied in Aliyev, Azerbaijan wants peace and knows how to attain its goals. Whereas, in the disheveled figure of Pashinyan, although not appearing completely averse to peace, Armenia was characterized as an incorrigible procrastinator, begging for compulsive peace enforcement.”