Incident near Tegh village provides qualitative X-ray of current  phase of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, Russian expert says

ArmInfo.The incident near the village of Tegh is an X-ray of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. A  similar opinion is shared by Sergey Markedonov, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Leading Researcher at the Center for Euro-Atlantic Security at the Institute for International Studies at MGIMO.  The expert noted that incidents in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border are not rare.

In this regard, he stated with regret that they are perceived by  politicians, experts and the media as a routine.

<However, the incident near the village of Tegh requires close  attention. This settlement is located 10 km from the Armenian city of  Goris and 40 km from Stepanakert, the capital of the unrecognized  Nagorno- Karabakh Republic. During the clashes on April 11, 7 people  were killed there. The Tegh incident was the first turning incident  of its kind after the deployment of the EU Mission in Armenia (EUMA)  on Armenian territory.

The following information was posted on the mission's website the  very next day: "The incident once again demonstrated that in the  absence of a delimited border, it is necessary to respect the 1991  line." The EU also called on the conflicting parties "to intensify  negotiations on the delimitation of the border, as well as its  readiness to "support this process">, Markedonov noted.  According to  him, one of the key considerations of official Yerevan when deploying  European observers on the border with Azerbaijan was the thesis about  the inefficiency of the CSTO.

<The organization, they say, only calls for restraint of the  participants in the conflict, does not name the perpetrators, and  reacts sluggishly. But in practice it turned out that EUMA is also  not in a hurry to name the culprit with all clarity. Moreover, calls  for negotiations and the need to refrain from incidents in the future  are so-so, know-how. How many similar statements have been made by  the OSCE Minsk Group over the years. Russia, as expected, took  advantage of the embarrassment of the European mission and pointed  out this fact to its partners from Yerevan, as well as urbi et orbi.  Note that the issue of hosting the CSTO mission is still being  discussed. And, in the words of the official representatives of the  Russian Foreign Ministry, " the ball is in Yerevan's court ",  he  added.  

<But is it only the embarrassment of the Europeans that is  the whole point? Doesn't the Tegh incident bring up deeper layers? In  our opinion, it brings up. And several ones at once. Firstly, the  conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not Karabakh, the  configuration of the interstate border and the political and  geographical outlines of the two countries is the key topic, and  there are many villages like Tech>, he stressed.  

Secondly, Markedonov continued, Baku and Yerevan themselves cannot  and do not want to reach a mutually beneficial compromise, different  "brokers" do this for them, to the extent of their understanding of  honesty and their own ideas about beauty.  

"Third, geopoliticization is strong as never before in the conflict.  Until 2022, the West and Russia did not openly compete in the  Armenian-Azerbaijani direction. Now the notorious <the zero sum game>  has come here. Now any embarrassment and any oversight of the  geopolitical opponent is used against him.  And believe me, the West  will be happy to savor any difficulties of the RCC in Karabakh. And  here is the question of pragmatics. Is it worth focusing on  geopolitical relish, or is it better not to scold someone else's, but  to actively promote one's own (with the mind, of course,  understanding other people's miscalculations and failures)>, he  believes.  Thus, the Russian expert believes, Tegh provides a  qualitative X-ray of the current phase of the Armenian- Azerbaijani  conflict. <And the diagnosis is very difficult!>, he summed up.