President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received U.S. State Department's Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations Philip Reeker.

Only a few lines are dedicated to this meeting on the President's website. It is reported that “the sides exchanged views on the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the meeting held in Washington at the level of foreign ministers regarding negotiations on a peace agreement. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's constant attention to the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan was highly appreciated”.

However, experts on international relations in Azerbaijan widely comment on the meeting. In particular, they draw attention to the fact that it took place just a few days after President Aliyev refused to go to Brussels for talks with Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan mediated by the European Union. The reason for his refusal was the precondition that Pashinyan put forward. The Armenian Prime Minister demanded the presence of French President Macron at the negotiating table. Given Macron's obvious pro-Armenian position, Azerbaijan considers such a demand unacceptable. 

Experts note that in this situation Washington felt a chance to seize the initiative in the regulation of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations again. At the same time, the United States is in a hurry to prevent the possibility of a resumption of war, a hint of which was caught by American politicians in Aliyev's speech at the conference under the motto “Along the Middle Corridor: Geopolitics, Security and Economy” in Baku.

“We thought that after the funeral of the Minsk Group, there must be some platform. Because we need to have some institution to help us and Armenia to come to certain agreements. And the initiative of President Charles Michel was a timely initiative. And you know that we have had several rounds of meetings in Brussels. And I think that all of them were successful”, - Aliyev said answering the questions of the participants of this conference.

“So that means that the meeting in Brussels on 7 December will not take place, - Aliyev continued. - We will see what alternatives we have, who will be a kind of a mediator or facilitator, or where the platform will be. I also consider this decision of the Armenian Prime Minister – because they could have imagine that we will be against it – as an attempt to undermine the peace process. Because the peace process will lead to the signing of the peace agreement in which they will have to admit that there is nothing about Karabakh. And in all the press-releases – whether adopted in Sochi or in Brussels – there is no reference to Karabakh. That’s why the Armenian side probably decided to use the old tactic which they used during the occupation to make this process endless without any result-oriented scenario. So if it is their choice, what can we do? We cannot force them to sign it. That means that there will be no peace treaty. That means that there will be no peace. And if there is no peace, then what do we have?”

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