To very little publicity, let alone fanfare, a delegation of Azerbaijani MPs is expected to arrive in Yerevan, Armenia, next week to attend a meeting of the Bureau and Committees of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. Euronest is an inter-parliamentary forum comprising members of the European Parliament and the parliaments of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
It was established in 2011 by the European Commission as part of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership (EaP). Next week’s meeting will take place 21-22 February at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex.
Assuming the visit does go ahead, it will be the first visit by deputies from either country to attend an international event in the other following the 2020 Karabakh war. For now, their visit is expected given that it is mentioned on the official website of the National Assembly of Armenia.
Members of the parliaments of the Eastern Partnership countries and the European Parliament will take part in the meetings. The visit of the members of the European Parliament, as well as the parliaments of Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Georgia to Yerevan is planned.
Public Radio of Armenia also reported that an Azerbaijani delegation is expected to attend though, with the exception of the Yerevan Bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), more details were not available. According to RFE/RL, however, the Azerbaijani delegation expressed its readiness to attend the meeting in Yerevan and three names were reported – Azerbaijani MPs Azar Karimli, Tahir Mirkishili, and Soltan Mammadov.
Update 21 February 2022: It now appears that only Mirkishili and Mammadov will attend:
Fevralın 22-də Ermənistanda AVRONEST Parlament Assambleyasının komitə iclasları keçiriləcək.
— Soltan Mammadov (@SoltanMammadov) February 21, 2022
Tədbirlərdə AVRONEST PA-da Azərbaycan nümayəndə heyətinin üzvləri Tahir Mirkişili və Soltan Məmmədov iştirak edəcəklər.https://t.co/SAGeP6iwSj pic.twitter.com/6CQhQULpFA
This development is particularly significant because in 2015, when a plenary session of Euronest was held in Yerevan, the Azerbaijani delegation refused to attend for political reasons. Nonetheless, RFE/RL quotes the head of the Euronest Armenian delegation, Maria Karapetyan, as reminding people that such visits have occurred in the past, with Armenian deputies visiting Baku and Azerbaijani deputies visiting Yerevan.
And despite the sensitivities of the recent war, Karapetyan also noted that two Armenian deputies visited Azerbaijan for Euronest in the year following the April 2016 war. This included then Republican Party MP Armen Ashotyan.
Such visits, of course, have not been uncommon in the past with even senior members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) visiting Baku. In 2010, ARF Bureau Member Giro Manoyan visited Baku. And in 2012, Vahan Hovhannisyan, visited Baku to attend Euronest when it was held there, even meeting with the Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliyev, just as the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, did in 2010.
The following year, Azerbaijani’s main religious leader, Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, visited Yerevan. In 2011, then Minister of Interior Ramil Usubov became the highest ranking Azerbaijani official to visit Armenia to attend a meeting of CIS Interior Ministers in Yerevan. This aside, of course, from occasional visits by athletes for international sporting events or civil society exchanges such as that in 2019 of journalists.
Though the event has received little coverage other than that from RFE/RL, if the participation of Azerbaijani MPs in Yerevan next week does take place then it would confirm some speculation that there might be now the green light from both sides to see more such visits between the two countries and possibly represent progress in the possible normalisation of relations following the 2020 war.
And if it does happen, what will also be interesting is how they travel.
Though many reacted as if AZAL has only used Armenian airspace since October last year, that’s not strictly true. Before 2014, Azerbaijani registered aircraft had reportedly used it and in 2006 an AZAL flight carrying the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs flew direct from Baku to Yerevan. Such a route, rather than by normal flights via Tbilisi, might cost more, but it would also be highly symbolic if the delegation were to travel from Baku to Yerevan the same way.
Update 21 February 2022: Both Mirkishili and Mammadov appear to be in Dubai so it’s possible they could travel to Yerevan from there.
