Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and the head of the administration’s Foreign Policy Department, announced on July 21 that Armenia was officially invited to the United Nations International Conference on Climate Change (COP29) to be held in Baku from Nov. 11-22, 2024. Hajiyev said that the invitation was sent from Azerbaijan’s Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev to the Armenian Foreign Ministry. Even though all U.N. members are automatically invited, Hajiyev made it sound like Azerbaijan was doing a special favor to Armenia by describing the invitation as a “goodwill and inclusive approach in the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries.” Hajiyev added, “Now is the time for the Armenian authorities to make a decision.”
Armenian officials have not issued a formal response to the invitation. They have made two evasive comments. The spokeswoman of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said, “Such a visit is not planned in the work agenda of the Prime Minister,” and the spokeswoman of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told a journalist, “We will inform you in case the issue is addressed.”
Baku claims that there will be 70-80,000 tourists visiting Baku on that occasion. Thousands of journalists, delegates of international environmental organizations, high-ranking officials of various governments and dozens of heads of state from around the world are expected to attend the conference. 198 countries are parties to the Convention on Climate Change.
On Dec. 7, 2023, the Armenian prime minister’s office and the Azerbaijani president’s administration issued a joint declaration disclosing that in return for Armenia not exercising its veto power against Azerbaijan hosting the climate conference, Azerbaijan would release 32 Armenian prisoners of war held in Baku. Armenia, in turn, would release two Azeri soldiers who were captured after crossing Armenia’s border and murdering an Armenian citizen. In addition, Azerbaijan agreed to support Armenia’s candidacy to the Eastern Europe Group’s Bureau of COP29. At the time, I wrote that Pres. Aliyev was so obsessed with holding this prestigious international conference in Baku that Armenia should have insisted that Azerbaijan release all of the Armenian POWs held in Baku since the 2020 war, as well as the eight high-ranking Artsakh officials held since September 2023.
In recent months, at several international gatherings, Pres. Aliyev has boasted about Azerbaijan hosting the COP29 conference, attributing it to “the increasing international respect for his country, two and a half months after” its occupation and ethnic cleansing of Artsakh. “Chairing the COP29 and holding this event in Baku is a clear example of the great trust that the international community has in our country. Almost 200 countries unanimously supported our candidacy,” Aliyev bragged.
Pashinyan will respond to Azerbaijan’s invitation to participate in the COP29 conference in Baku at a press conference in August, according to the Government Information and Public Relations Department of Armenia.
Azeri officials have raised the possibility of Pashinyan and Aliyev signing a preliminary agreement outlining the basic principles of an eventual peace treaty during the November conference in Baku. Hajiyev is touting the idea of “COP Truce,” suspending all hostilities around the world during the conference, similar to the concept of “Olympic Truce,” to promote Azerbaijan’s false image as a peacemaker. At the end of May, Elchin Amirbekov, the Azerbaijani president’s special envoy, mentioned that the conference could be a good opportunity to sign a peace treaty with Armenia.
During his press conference on May 7, Pashinyan said that Yerevan has agreed to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan before November. However, the Armenian Foreign Ministry warned on June 19 that “Azerbaijan will do everything possible to abort the process of signing a peace treaty with Armenia in November during the COP29 Summit in Baku in order to unleash a new aggression against the Republic of Armenia.”
It is not known what Pashinyan will announce in August regarding his possible participation in COP29 in November in Baku. However, in my opinion, Pashinyan should avoid falling into the trap set by Aliyev to gain bonus points in front of a worldwide audience at the expense of Armenia by showcasing the attendance of Pashinyan or his representative in the conference. This would be a major coup for Aliyev, acting as a peacemaker, while continuing to make regular threats to Armenia and escalate his demands for concessions from Armenia. Furthermore, signing a piece of paper under the guise of a peace treaty will not obstruct Aliyev from any future attacks on Armenia.
I believe that no Armenian official should consider going to Baku while Azerbaijan holds dozens of Armenian POWs and has occupied parts of the Republic of Armenia since 2021. Until Azerbaijan releases all of the Armenian prisoners and withdraws from Armenia, no Armenian official should go to Azerbaijan nor hold any kind of meeting or negotiation with Baku.
A less desirable alternative would be for Pashinyan or his representative to go to Baku and demand to address the international conference of 196 nations, condemning Azerbaijan’s repeated threats to invade Armenia, its occupation of Artsakh, ethnic cleansing of 120,000 Artsakh Armenians and refusal to allow them to return to their ancestral homeland under international guarantees, release all of the Armenian prisoners of war and withdraw Azeri troops from Armenia.
However, there is a good chance that Azerbaijan may renege on its promise to allow Armenia’s representative to address the conference at the last minute. A much better option for Armenia would be to refuse to attend the conference unless Azerbaijan releases the Armenian prisoners of war and withdraws its troops from Armenia in advance of the conference.
Harut Sassounian
Pashinyan, the traitor, coward and weakling he is, will go to Baku, to crawl and beg in front of Aliyev, to go easy on him. Aliyev must be thrilled to have such a weak and appeasing leader like Pashinyan, to whom he can dictate to, and wrest many concessions from Armenia with ease, like a bully taking away all the toys from a child. Meanwhile, Pashinyan will not lift his finger and show some backbone (since he has none) to ask Aliyev to withdraw Azerbaijani troops from Armenian territory, and for the release of all the Armenian POWs and especially the Artsakh leaders languishing in Azerbaijani prisons, because as his political enemies, he is very eager to see them rot and die in prison, and in this way get rid of as many of his opponents as possible. Pashinyan’s treachery knows no bounds.