Almost All Azerbaijani Media Covered Pashinyan's Visit to Syunik and Protests, Expert Taron Hovhannisyan

Almost all Azerbaijani media outlets covered Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's visit to Syunik and the protests that accompanied it. These reports were, of course, accompanied by provocative statements, including calls for Syunik to gain independence from Armenia. This was primarily in the yellow press, but there is a noticeable intention to conduct propaganda on that wave.

This was stated by Taron Hovhannisyan, an expert on Azerbaijani affairs, in an interview with Auroranews while responding to the question of how the Azerbaijani press reacted to the events that took place in Syunik yesterday.

According to Hovhannisyan, they tried to present the events as a weakening of the central government's authority over various regions of Armenia, particularly southern Syunik. In response to our question about the adversary's provocations and potential clashes, the Azerbaijani expert stated, “Azerbaijan has practically been escalating the situation recently. It is quite difficult to say whether this will lead to a large-scale war, as there are various factors influencing this, including the positions of international players, primarily Russia and Turkey. This is an additional factor that has a significant impact. The Azerbaijani side aims to exert pressure on Armenia and Russia through such provocations so that they agree to the ‘Zangezur or Syunik corridor.’ In other words, Azerbaijan is trying to secure a corridor that will have a separate status, which will not be within the framework of the unblocking of common transport routes. Azerbaijan wishes to have certain rights regarding this corridor, while, according to them, Armenia should renounce its rights over that territory.”

Summarizing his remarks, Taron Hovhannisyan stated that, in his opinion, the steps taken by Azerbaijan at various levels, which are mainly accompanied by force and threats, are pressures to obtain that corridor. Regarding the conflict, he noted that it has deepened after the war and, according to the expert, new clashes cannot be ruled out in the future.