Peace between the two countries comes with a mutual definition of the zero point. This was stated by former KGB head and economist David Ananyan.
He explained that the zero point means that the parties no longer have any claims against each other: whatever each side was supposed to give, they have given, and the moment has come to shake hands. From this point onward, the building of peace and societal reconciliation begins. However, today, between Armenia and Azerbaijan, this zero point has not been reached—it is not even visible, Ananyan believes.
“The rhetoric of Azerbaijan has not changed. The list of demands put forward has not been fully met. Even while announcing the initialed peace agreement, the President of Azerbaijan called on the Armenian leadership to complete their ‘homework.’ In other words, during the initialing process, it was stated that Armenia still had to do certain things, fulfill additional requirements not included in the documents. This in itself indicates that the ‘zero point’ is still far away,” he said.
Ananyan is convinced that, broadly speaking, for Azerbaijan and the Turkic world as a whole, peace in the region means a region without Armenians. “They will consider that peace has come only when the Armenian factor ceases to exist. This may be achieved not necessarily through physical extermination, but, for example, by reducing Armenia to the level of a puppet state, where statehood exists only de jure, while in reality the country is turned into a stronghold of the Turkic world, a territory with open gates,” he stated.