Senior Azerbaijan diplomat urges Armenia to embrace a future of peace and prosperity

One of Azerbaijan’s top diplomats visited Brussels this month. Elchin Amirbayov, who is Assistant to the First Vice-President, spoke to EU Reporter about the role of the EU -and personally by Council President Charles Michel- in the efforts to end the confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia. In a wide-ranging interview with Political Editor Nick Powell, Mr Amirbayov also discussed his country’s role in Europe’s energy security and as part of the Middle Corridor trade route.

Elchin Amirbayov came to Brussels with a busy schedule, aimed at strengthening relations not just with the EU as a whole but with Belgium in particular, mindful that the country will hold the presidency of the European Council for the first half of 2024. As well as talking about the potential for boosting trade he was taking the opportunity to brief ministers, parliamentarians and other stakeholders about the efforts to finally normalise relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

EU-Azerbaijan relations grew last year when Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Baku to sign an agreement to double Azerbaijan’s gas exports to Europe. It was an agreement reached in the context of the EU’s wish to end its dependence on Russian gas but Elchin Amirbayov emphasised that his country had more than oil and gas to offer as a reliable partner of the European Union.

“Besides the traditional role of energy exporter that Azerbaijan is known for, we are trying to play an important role in terms of connectivity, especially against the background of what’s going on with the war between Russia and Ukraine. The geoeconomic and geopolitical importance of what we call the Middle Corridor has increased”, he said.

The Middle Corridor allows trade between Asia and Europe to avoid both the land route through Russia and the alternative lengthy ocean voyage. Instead it crosses the Caspian Sea between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. “Azerbaijan has always been at the crossroads of continents and civilisations and has already proved its reputation as a credible partner”, he stressed.

There was also much more to be done within the energy sector. New investment in capacity was required to meet the commitment to pump the enhanced volumes of natural gas to Europe by 2027. Elchin Amirbayov was confident that commitment would be met but it was important to look beyond oil and gas as well.

“What’s important when we talk about energy, it should not be reduced to only about hydrocarbons. We are also thinking seriously about diversifying our energy portfolio and we’re working now with a number of countries to help us develop renewable energy because we’re very strong in wind and solar potential”, he said.

“That explains the recent contracts signed by some Middle Eastern countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia to help us create those infrastructures. Last but not least, recently we signed a quadrilateral agreement between us, Georgia, Romania and Hungary to export potentially electricity from Azerbaijan underneath the Black Sea. So it’s another huge clean project, which shows there is a level of consciousness in Azerbaijan that we need also to join this current world trend, in terms of transitioning from hydrocarbon resources to clean energy”.

Similarly ambitious investment was developing the potential of the Middle Corridor trade route. “We do have pipeline infrastructure, gas and oil, we have railroad, we have a state-of-the-art brand new maritime port, in the vicinity of Baku”, he added. “This port of Baku is already engaged in contacts with some of the Western European partners to see how this Middle Corridor could be used. We’re talking with Antwerp-Brugge, we’re talking with Rotterdam and with others. So that’s why I think it’s not only energy, it’s also goods which could be transited through our territory”.

For Azerbaijan, it was also about the possible engagement of the European Union in its government’s efforts to bring life back to the territories liberated in the Second Karabakh War, fought with Armenia in 2020. Elchin Amirbayov described how 10,000 square kilometres of territory were completely devastated by war.

“You don’t see any single building that was untouched. All the cultural buildings and infrastructure have been destroyed completely. So that’s why we are looking for partners who can help us, at least to face the most important humanitarian challenge -that is de-mining. As a result of this conflict, Azerbaijan became one of the most contaminated territories in the world, with land mines and unexploded ordnance still there and still costing human lives.

“What’s important is that because these lands are still not cleaned up, the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons and refugees cannot go back to their homes, even though these territories are no longer under foreign occupation. We cannot let them go back unless we are sure that this territory is safe”.

Mr Amirbayov stated that the huge challenge of first de-mining and then rebuilding meant that Azerbaijan didn’t want fresh confrontation with Armenia, putting a risk a still fragile peace. He said his country was seeking a peace agreement based on the principles of international law, including the reciprocal respect of each other’s territory, the inviolability of borders, a rejection of territorial claims now and in the future and the delimitation of the border.

He looked forward to a new era when animosity, rivalry and confrontation are at an end and the Southern Caucasus becomes what he called a “normal political region”. He said Armenia was suffering due to the lack of a peace agreement, as its borders with Azerbaijan and Türkiye were closed and trade routes that existed in Soviet times had been destroyed.

“So what we suggest with them is a win-win strategy, not a victor’s peace and we impose it. No, we say with it Armenia will benefit even more because it will be open to investment, for example, from countries around it. It would be considered as a relatively stable place which is not actually risking any new confrontation with its neighbours.

“So that’s why we don’t really understand why Armenia demonstrates this spirit of procrastination. Why are they playing for time? Why are they shying away from direct negotiations? Why they every now and then speak about revanchism. So it’s very hard for us to grasp it”.

The Armenian Prime Minister has now told his parliament that his country recognises the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and has called for a peace treaty to be signed. Nikol Pashinyan said the Armenians had deceived themselves for decades by claiming Azerbaijani territory. However, as recently as last September he denied that he would recognise Azerbaijan’s borders.

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