The deoccupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and its reintegration into Azerbaijan should become for Ukraine an example of the effective return of the currently occupied territories of Donbass and Crimea to its structure.
He spoke about this on the air of the Unified News telethon Deputy Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies Sergey Danilov.
According to the expert, when preparing for the integration of Karabakh into Azerbaijan, Baku took into account the unsuccessful experience of the behavior of Russians in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
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— Azerbaijanis are now trying not to rush and avoid excesses. They are trying to reassure the population, give those who want to leave the opportunity to leave, and give those who want to return a chance to return. This is necessary in order not to be as similar as possible to the Russians in the Kherson region, — noted the expert.
Sergey Danilov is convinced that, based on the current example of Nagorno-Karabakh, Ukraine should learn several lessons about the reintegration of self-proclaimed Russian-controlled enclaves and apply this experience to the return of Crimea and the Donetsk and Lugansk regions after their deoccupation.
The first lesson, according to the analyst, is that Azerbaijan categorically prohibits Nagorno-Karabakh from having any subjectivity.And it does not exclude that Baku’s decision to do so was prompted by the experience of the existence of ORDLO (certain districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. — Ed.).
— The Azerbaijanis realized that if Ukraine liberates these areas (ORDLO. — Ed.), there will be no military administration with a special status of self-government. Russian propagandists are very worried that as a result of this one-day war, Karabakh will not receive any autonomy. They cling to anything, trying to push territorial or at least cultural autonomy into the region. But Baku very firmly insists that this will not happen, — The deputy director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies is convinced.
The second lesson,according to the analyst, that Ukraine should learn from the current de-occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh is the forced deportation from the region of all Armenians who refuse to become citizens of Azerbaijan.The expert noted that if people do not want to be citizens of a country to which its rightful territory is being returned, then they do not have the right to stay there.
Sergey Danilov noted that today Azerbaijan is subject to harsh criticism and accusations of genocide for its intentions to deport from Nagorno-Karabakh all Armenians who do not agree to acquire an Azerbaijani passport – even those who were born in Stepanakert, Khankend or other settlements in the region.
— I assume that there will be a similar discussion on Crimea. I already foresee a barrage of criticism against Ukraine when we say that everyone who came to Crimea after 2014 must leave the peninsula. But this should be our unequivocal requirement. Let me remind you that after the annexation, from 500 thousand to 1 million Russians were resettled to Crimea, — noted the expert.
The Deputy Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies is convinced that during the de-occupation of Crimea, similar claims will be made against Ukraine by the same people who are now criticizing Azerbaijan. According to the analyst, “this picture of the departure (of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh. — Ed.) will fit very well with propaganda messages about genocide, persecution and everything else.”
And the third lesson for Ukraine in terms of the current reintegration of Karabakh, the analyst called Azerbaijan's consistent and persistent refusal to have an external presence in the liberated territories.
— No OSCE, UN or other “peacekeepers”. During one broadcast to the Russian publication Present Time, I told the presenter: “Excuse me, when we enter Crimea, we will not ask you how to equip it.” And this caused him very unpleasant emotions. The simple truth is that we will decide how to develop it, what the territorial structure will be, what form of governance and self-government in Crimea will be, without the participation of the “good Russians”, “bad Russians” or any Russians. This is a very good lesson that we need to learn from the Nagorno-Karabakh situation, — summed up Sergey Danilov.
Let us recall that on September 19, Azerbaijan announced the start of an anti-terrorist operation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. This led to the intensification of hostilities with the armed forces of Armenia and the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan refused to go to war with Azerbaijan due to the aggravation in the region.
20 September President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said that within 24 hours the army of his state had completed all the assigned tasks of the anti-terrorist operation and announced the restoration of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over the region.
Representatives of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic agreed to surrender, disarmament of military formations and dissolution of local authorities.
Against the background of deteriorating relations between Armenia and the Kremlin, Russian peacekeepers did not interfere with Azerbaijan’s military operation. It seems that Moscow, which for a long time created the image of a mediator in the interethnic conflict, supported Baku.
