Zhamanak: Baku to use its ‘allies’ for anti-Armenian propaganda war ahead of new ministerial summit

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has reportedly confirmed plans for a new Armenian-Azerbaijani ministerial summit in recent comment to the Azerbaijani media.

No further details were available to the Organization, which the paper says reaffirmed only its regular practice of reporting a specific date and place just days before the scheduled meeting.

The report itself is not intriguing at all given that the willingness for a new round of talks – as well as its approximate timeframes (on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in late September) - was known after the recent summit in Washington, says the paper, questioning more the substantial aspect of the negotiations. Noting that Baku will be inevitably discontented with the Armenian foreign minister’s speech, the paper calls more attention to the expected reaction by international circles and the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (who haven't so far expressed any opinion on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s recent speech in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh).

“Although there isn’t so far any specific reaction – either negative or positive – the fact of silence itself has, implicitly, a positive connotation in the diplomatic practice. And it’s not absolutely all about the reaction alone - or even its context - but rather the kind of approval of the Armenian prime minister’s speech and the new approaches voiced (or whether or not it receives any approval at all). All has to do with the working environment that speech has created for Armenia.

“In that sense, the co-chairs’ somewhat silent position on Baku’s discontent testifies at least to the fact that they are open to work with Armenia when it comes to the positions voiced in Stepanakert. It is, perhaps, worth remembering at this point the kind discontented attitude to the speech in external circles [with the exception of Baku].

“The Armenian prime minister’s speech sparked an open discontent also by the  media and certain expert circles in Russia. That means that ahead of the foreign ministers’ upcoming talks, Baku will try to use its ‘allies’ potential to launch an information propaganda war against Armenia. And that doesn’t, by the way, have to cover at all the current peace processes around Artsakh,” comments the paper.