The likelihood that the leak about a possible meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Washington will be confirmed is extremely high. This opinion was expressed by political analyst Grant Melik-Shahnazaryan.
According to him, there have recently been precedents where information about such meetings, primarily disseminated through unofficial—and mostly Azerbaijani—channels, has ultimately been confirmed.
“I believe the meeting will take place. However, it will most likely not involve the signing of the so-called peace agreement but rather its initialing,” he noted.
According to the analyst, Azerbaijan previously avoided rushing to sign a peace agreement, as doing so would close off opportunities for new concessions from Armenia. Aliyev was aware that the current authorities in Yerevan were ready to make further concessions and did not want to lose this leverage.
However, now, according to Melik-Shahnazaryan, Baku has come to the realization that if Pashinyan is not given some form of “success,” he may not remain in power. Therefore, Aliyev is willing to agree to the initialing—not as a final agreement but as a tool that will allow Pashinyan to claim to Armenian society that his peace agenda is bearing fruit.
“This will be yet another ploy, another attempt to mislead the public,” he concluded.