Azerbaijan’s operation in Nagorno-Karabakh showed that any conflict must end, according to Yigal Levin, an analyst and senior lieutenant in the Israel Defense Forces’ ground force.
“The end of the long war in Karabakh and the restoration of the internationally recognized territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is an example of the fact that conflicts can and should be resolved and brought to their logical conclusion. A military conflict that lasted more than 30 years ended in less than 24 hours,” Levin said.
It has always been convenient for Moscow to keep the post-Soviet space under its control through artificially created frozen conflicts, the expert says.
“[Russia] acted in these conflicts as a wise arbiter, a “peacemaker” who supposedly carries the seed of a certain rationality. Like, these are stupid Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Ukrainians, Armenians, Moldovans, etc., who cannot share six acres of garden among themselves, but there is a super-Russian person who brings peace, stability and security,” the analyst noted.
In fact, Moscow only supported conflicts and brought “the poor, regression, dirt and death.” Now that illusion is over, Levin says.
“Baku is showing the whole world that no treaty is worth the paper it’s written on unless backed up by real force. And that any conflict must be ended, and not turned into a “smoldering” but, in fact, rotting state, which someone will definitely take advantage of, feeding on the grief and troubles of ordinary people,” the analyst concluded and wished Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine “to take advantage of a historic chance” and stop Russia.
On September 20, Azerbaijan announced that it had returned the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh to its control after a one-day military operation. The Armenians of the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” have accepted the invitation of the Azerbaijani authorities, negotiations are ongoing.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region in southwestern Azerbaijan. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought twice over the territory. Officially, Nagorno-Karabakh is an autonomous region of Azerbaijan. However, Armenia claimed its rights to own the territory because, according to Yerevan, ethnic Armenians inhabited these lands long before modern Azerbaijan appeared on the world map.
