News - A new platform for discussing Armenian–Azerbaijani relations with Azerbaijanis.

Aliyev will not come to Yerevan, but Bayramov? An Azerbaijani expert on Press Clubs TV did not rule out the visit of Azerbaijan's foreign minister to Armenia. On November 3, the Press Clubs TV YouTube channel was launched in Yerevan and Baku, an Armenian–Azerbaijani joint television platform. The current phase of the Armenian–Azerbaijani negotiation process and the decades-long work of the Yerevan and Baku press clubs made the creation of the joint YouTube channel possible. Politician Farhad Mamedov, the first Azerbaijani guest on Press Clubs TV, says that the media provides an opportunity for open communication, and the joint channel, where topics will be discussed with the participation of sector experts, will broaden that opportunity. From Armenia, an online participant was Areg Kochinyan, president of the Center for Security Policy Research; the program was hosted by Boris Navassardyan, honorary president of the Yerevan Press Club and political analyst. They — Mamedov, Kochinyan and Navassardyan — had also met in person in Yerevan about two weeks earlier. Mamedov was part of the Azerbaijani delegation that arrived on a direct flight from Baku. In the last month or two, Armenian–Azerbaijani direct meetings have become more frequent. On October 22, such a meeting was organized in Istanbul; on October 21–22 Azerbaijani experts came to Yerevan for a meeting between civil societies; and on November 4 another Azerbaijani expert participated in a forum organized by the Armenian Orbel Center. The meetings, according to experts, have become more frequent because both sides’ leaders have agreed to pursue peace through negotiations. Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani delegation did not participate in the 12th plenary session of the Eastern Partnership Parliamentary Assembly, Euronest, held in Yerevan on October 28–30. During the discussion Boris Navassardyan recalled: it is known that the reason for Yerevan not coming was not so much the conference venue, but the organization’s relations with the European Parliament, but it is a fact that Baku has boycotted Euronest plenary sessions twice, both in Yerevan in 2015 and 2025. According to Mamedov, issues that could cast a shadow on peaceful exchanges between the sides should be bypassed; the Euronest and Baku issue lies in the wording. The Azerbaijani delegation could have attended the meeting held in Yerevan, but the issues to be discussed there could have harmed the process, the political scientist said. Press Clubs TV’s program also discussed the European Political Community summit to be held in Yerevan next year; it is known that Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev will not attend this event. Mamedov did not rule out the possibility of the Azerbaijani foreign minister taking part. He said: the fact that Azerbaijan will not participate in this summit at the highest level does not mean that it will not participate at a higher level, for example at the foreign minister level. Armenian–Azerbaijani meetings at a furious pace Meet, respectively, at different levels are important for bringing peace discussions closer to the public, says Areg Kochinyan. I am a person who has welcomed Azerbaijani delegations in Yerevan, and it was striking to see an airplane at the airport with Azerbaijan written on it. Kochinyan notes the meetings are taking place at a furious pace and today it is important to involve the public in the process so that it becomes irreversible. The expert believes that the Armenian–Azerbaijani dialogue has gained autonomy, and as the sides move closer, the possibility of third-party interference will diminish; those who wish to intervene exist both inside and outside the two countries. Boris Navassardyan: realistic problems with real expectations The two-day meeting between Armenian and Azerbaijani experts in Yerevan was organized with the support of official Armenian and Azerbaijani bodies, without third-party mediation. Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan attended one of the expert sessions. Navassardyan notes that the absence of mediators obliges participants to be as realistic as possible and to set issues that can be resolved in the near future. As for the results, it is early to talk; time is needed to see what progress the ideas and initiatives discussed during the two working days will undergo. According to Navassardyan, a format of ten people (five from Armenia, five from Azerbaijan) is a special communications bridge that, by delivering generated proposals to the official bodies, should renew the dialogue agenda. Thanks to the media — excluding the exceptions The Azerbaijani delegation's visit to Yerevan was reported in Baku with exclusively positive subtext. In a conversation with Media.am, Navassardyan explains why: public opinion in Azerbaijan is highly consolidated, which cannot be said about our country. There were also problematic or distorted publications in the Armenian press. For security reasons the Azerbaijani delegation’s visit was not pre-announced, but Sputnik Armenia had revealed which hotel the guests would be staying at. Navassardyan says this was a kind of provocation by the media. Distorted information was also reported by 168 Hours, which revealed backstage details. Referring to the Azerbaijani public television interview with political analyst Farhad Mamedov, 168.am wrote that the expert said that the Khojaly genocide was discussed in Yerevan. Participants of the Armenian–Azerbaijani civil diplomacy round table issued a statement addressing these publications. It notes that the Azerbaijani expert did not speak about Khojaly, because such a topic was not discussed in Yerevan. Farhad Mamedov, replying to a journalist's question, on the contrary, emphasized: theoretically, of course reconciliation is about forming an attitude toward these tragedies. But this is not an urgent issue; we must reconcile with reality, the statement quotes Mamedov. The authors of the aforementioned publications describe it as a move to distort the image of the normalization of Armenian–Azerbaijani relations through unscrupulous journalism and to create unhealthy tension around it.