President Ilham Aliyev's "eastern opening" is watched with concern in Armenia. One topic is being discussed in particular in the Armenian media and expert community: Aliyev brings Azerbaijan to the center of global politics, and all these are factors that strengthen Baku's hand in front of Yerevan.

Axar.az informs that the head of "Telegraf" Media Group, political scientist Aynur Jamal spoke about the participation of President Ilham Aliyev in the Astana summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the signing of a strategic cooperation document between Azerbaijan and China, as well as the desire of Azerbaijan's main ally Turkiye to join BRICS in the Armenian media. he said while commenting on the discussions.

A. Jamal assessed these moves of President Ilham Aliyev as "Eastern opening" of Azerbaijan:

"It is clear that Azerbaijan has a unique concept of foreign policy. It is a strategy to cooperate with all parties in accordance with national interests without taking any front. This strategy of President Ilham Aliyev has always brought profit to our country. Azerbaijan has stayed out of all global conflicts, and all international powers have always been interested in working with official Baku. In the current geopolitical landscape, this strategy implemented by President Ilham Aliyev can be a research topic for geopolitics textbooks."

The political scientist noted that Azerbaijan implements high-level bilateral cooperation with all countries except Armenia:

"In particular, tripartite cooperation platforms were created at the initiative of Azerbaijan. For example, platforms such as Azerbaijan-Turkiye-Georgia, Azerbaijan-Iran-Russia are such examples. In addition, Azerbaijan has high-level relations with the United States in the Far West, China in the Far East, as well as with the European Union and the SCO. Azerbaijan is distinguished by its ability to act as a locomotive for the activities of international organizations of which it is a member. A clear example of this is the success achieved by Azerbaijan during its chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement. Of course, such multi-vector cooperation strengthens Azerbaijan's international reputation and makes it an indispensable partner for every country and every alliance."

A. Jamal believes that the emergence of Azerbaijan as a global player is a factor that strengthens our position in the peace negotiations with Armenia:

"They are worried about this in Armenia and understand that they will have to agree to all the demands of official Baku. And they also know that no international power or any country is capable of supporting Armenia to the end in front of Azerbaijan. Countries that try to do this become losers. The situation of the Macron Administration is a clear example of this. France was out of the game in the South Caucasus due to its wrong policy towards Azerbaijan. Other countries follow suit. From this point of view, Irevan has become a party dictated to Baku, and this reality will not change."

A. Jamal added that President Ilham Aliyev made Azerbaijan the center of global politics.