Aliyev says he does not ‘trust’ Armenia the same day Baku and Yerevan agree on a peace treaty

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev gave a speech at the 12th Global Baku Forum on Thursday, the same day that Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to sign a historic peace treaty that would end more than three decades of conflict.

Against the backdrop of the unprecedented step towards signing a treaty, Aliyev’s speech was nonetheless full of grievances, conspiracy theories, and attacks on Armenia, France, the EU, and Western media.

He began the address by extolling what Azerbaijan had achieved in energy reforms and the hosting of the COP29 conference, before quickly switching to allegations that ‘some Western media, which President [Donald] Trump calls fake news’, had engaged in a ‘campaign to discredit Azerbaijan, blackmail us, and spread rumors, and different disinformation’.

Aliyev singled out ‘the Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, Newsweek, and the Associated Press’ as ‘fake news outlets’ that were ‘just implementing the instructions of the US State Department’. He also mentioned French President Emmanuel Macron, who he has long been at odds with, accusing him and French media of planning a ‘coordinated campaign of blackmail and slander aimed at boycotting COP29’.

‘All that [Armenians] say, for us, has zero meaning’

The bulk of Aliyev’s speech was dedicated to commenting on the ongoing negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but was delivered before it was announced they had agreed to sign a peace treaty.

Aliyev launched into a laundry list of historical grievances against Armenia, concluding that ‘that the level of trust to Armenia is close to zero’.

As a result, Aliyev said ‘we need documents; we need papers’, from Armenia in order to demonstrate that the efforts towards the peace treaty are genuine.

At the same time, Aliyev accused Armenia of ‘preparing for a new war’, reiterating past accusations, including a conspiracy-laden article published by the pro-government media outlet Caliber earlier this week.

‘Who is pushing [Armenia] to war again? France and its president’, Aliyev said.

He then went on to attack former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who he claimed had ‘actually ruined US–Azerbaijan relations, which we had been building for 30 years’.

In addition, Aliyev singled out the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as members of the US Congress, Adam Schiff, Frank Palone, and Nancy Pelosi, alleging they had been ‘receiving money from Armenian diaspora organizations in the US to attack Azerbaijan and discredit it’.

Aliyev also praised Trump’s efforts at ‘draining the swamp’, saying that Azerbaijan was ready to ‘share information with American authorities about the illegal activity of USAID in Azerbaijan’.

He concluded by emphasising Azerbaijan ‘hope[s] that with the new administration, we will rebuild our strong partnership, which has always been important for the South Caucasus, for peace, security, anti-terror operations, [and] the modern development of our region’.

Pashinyan speaks to Turkish media in ‘unprecedented event’

During the interview, Pashinyan discussed Armenia–Turkey relations and the Armenia–Azerbaijan peace negotiations.

OC MediaXandie (Alexandra) Kuenning