Judging from some statements of representatives of Armenian political authorities, official Yerevan would prefer to deal with Ilham Aliyev. Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan said recently that the election of Aliyev-younger would allow continuing the negotiations on Karabakh. “I am sure that Ilham Aliyev is aware of the process of negotiations. We assume that his possibilities to continue the process are higher than those of the other candidates”.
Chairman of the National Assembly, Arthur Baghdasaraian shares this opinion. In an interview with the “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” (“Independent Newspaper”) he said Ilham Aliyev was a soberly thinking political figure. “I am sure he is familiar with the details of the political negotiations around the Karabakh issue,” Parliament speaker said. “I do not think Ilham Aliyev is a representative of the “party of war,” Defence minister Serzh Sarkisian says. “When leaders of great powers congratulate him with the election, this is already something.”
Even the representatives of Armenian opposition are sure that the official Yerevan should be interested in seeing Ilham Aliyev as President of Azerbaijan. Former presidency candidate, political scientist Aram Karapetyan commenting the rumours that the “official Yerevan in a veiled form supports Ilham Aliyev” said: “Being a representative of opposition, I approve this decision”.
The authorities of Nagorno Karabakh speak less about Aliyev. Only the head of the information-analytical department of the NKR Foreign Ministry Leonid Martirosyan said once that “Ilham Aliyev may play a positive role in finding bilaterally admissible ways of conflict’s settlement”. We shall note that judging from the results of social studies, the NKR population is not against Ilham Aliyev. Judging from the results of the study carried out by the “Democratic reforms and human rights” organization, 63 percent of Karabakh population is sure that if Ilham Aliyev becomes President, the armistice will be maintained. Let’s hope they were not mistaken…
