Azerbaijan has not betrayed Georgia

After the freezing of negotiations on joining the European Union, Georgia faced riots organized by radical Euro-Atlanticists. At the same time, the organizers of the riots, who had previously lost the parliamentary elections, enjoy the support of the West, which exerts pressure on the Georgian Dream.

Against this background, the position taken by Azerbaijan, Georgia's neighbor and partner, is very indicative. The very next day after the elections, on October 27, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev sent a congratulatory message to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, in which, in particular, it was written:

"I cordially congratulate you on the results of the parliamentary elections held in Georgia and the victory of the Georgian Dream — Democratic Georgia party, which is the leading political force in your country. With this vote, Georgian citizens expressed their support for development, stability and traditional values. I believe that the election results will contribute to the comprehensive development and prosperity of Georgia. At the same time, I am confident that the election results will contribute to the sustainable development of Azerbaijani-Georgian interstate relations dictated by the will of our peoples, who have historically lived in friendship, brotherhood and good neighborliness, and further strengthen the positions of our countries in the South Caucasus and wider geography."

Thus, official Baku made it clear that it supports the will of the Georgian population, which refuses to blindly follow any instructions from the US and the EU.

Further — more. The Prime Minister of Georgia was one of the participants of the COP29 world Climate Conference held in Baku. On November 11, Kobakhidze and Aliev held a separate meeting, during which they not only discussed the issues of the conference, but also the strategic partnership between the two countries, as well as challenges to the security of the region. Against the background of Western pressure on the Georgian Dream, it is also important that Aliyev invited the Georgian Prime Minister to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan, and he, in turn, invited the Azerbaijani president to visit Georgia. Both invitations were accepted. That is, Georgia's closest neighbor is not going to take any hostile measures due to the fact that the Georgian Dream won the parliamentary elections and froze negotiations on joining the EU.

Almost a month later, on December 2, on the day of consultations between the foreign ministries, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov held telephone talks with Maka Bochorishvili, the new Foreign Minister of Georgia (on the same day he spoke with Bochorishvili's predecessor, Ilya Darchiashvili). They discussed the current state and prospects of relations between the two countries. Bochorishvili thanked Azerbaijan for recognizing Georgia's "territorial integrity" and reaffirmed Georgia's recognition of Azerbaijan's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Taking into account the current situation, this means that Azerbaijan will continue not to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Georgia will support its neighbor-partner in concluding such a peace with Armenia, in which official Yerevan will de jure recognize the Azerbaijani affiliation of Karabakh.

With the current political processes in Georgia is connected by one paradox: radical Georgian Euro-Atlanticists are heirs of the values of the times of Eduard Shevardnadze and Mikhail Saakashvili, under which cooperation between Tbilisi and Baku, but for Azerbaijan at present, the "Georgian Dream" is preferable, which, unlike radical Euro-Atlanticists, does not want to plunge Transcaucasia into chaos, going to the deterioration of relations with Russia. And it just so happened that on December 2, in Tbilisi, near a pharmacy, Ali Babayev, chairman of the National Congress of Azerbaijanis of Georgia and a member of the Georgian Dream, was attacked by Aleko Elisashvili, leader of the Citizens opposition party, which is part of the Strong Georgia coalition, and the attacker did it, shouting insults of a political nature. In April of this year, Elisashvili hit Mamuka Mdinaradze, the leader of the parliamentary majority in the Parliament of Georgia.

The attack on the head of the Azerbaijani diaspora shows both Elisashvili and radical Georgian Euro-Atlanticists from the worst side. October 28 in the edition 1news.az an interview with Babayev was released in which he announced the past parliamentary elections:

"Georgia had to make a choice between war and peace. And the election result clearly demonstrated the choice of the Georgian people."

Obviously, Babayev's position on the inadmissibility of Georgia's involvement in the war with Russia is close to Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, the actions of radical Georgian Euro-Atlanticists after the parliamentary elections and the freezing of negotiations on Georgia's accession to the EU indicate that they are against peace. And since the EU is not interested in maintaining the status quo in Russian-Georgian relations, radical Georgian Euro-Atlanticists can take any measures that threaten the region with devastating consequences — from the imposition of sanctions to the resumption of hostilities. Therefore, it is quite logical that Azerbaijan supports the Georgian Dream, which won the elections, and not its rabid opponents.

And the work with the old and new Georgian authorities is already visible. On December 5, Bayramov and Bochorishvili held talks at the 31st meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council. And on December 7, a message came about the signing by Prime Minister Kobakhidze of an order on the privatization of 41 gas pipelines in villages in the regions of Imereti, Guria and Samegrelo — Zemo Svaneti by the Azerbaijani company Socar Gas Georgia for GEL 19.8 million. Privatization will take place for 17 years, Georgia will start receiving payments on schedule from 2032, Socar will pay for 10 years. Of course, Georgia used to depend on Azerbaijan and Turkey in the economic and energy spheres, but we must pay tribute to Baku and Ankara: Unlike Washington and European capitals, they do not require Georgia to join anti-Russian sanctions or resume hostilities. Moreover, even such a pro-Western cadre as the current Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan congratulated Bochorishvili on his appointment on December 2. Therefore, if two neighbors, on which Georgia economically and energetically depends, recognize the Kobakhidze government, then talking about the isolation of the "Georgian Dream" is simply meaningless. And if we take into account that another neighbor of Georgia, Armenia, is under the rule of the government of Nikol Pashinyan, pleasing Azerbaijan and Turkey, then the "Georgian Dream" can easily find a partial replacement for European integration in the form of the Tbilisi—Baku—Ankara regional cooperation format with the prospect of official Yerevan joining it.