British expert:

The election of Azerbaijan like a non permanent member of UN Security Council will not have any immediate effect on the Karabakh negotiations, nor on the work of the Minsk Process, but it is an indication that Azerbaijan has become an important international player, executive director of the British non-governmental organization LINKS, Dennis Sammut, told Arminfo correspondent.

He also added that the election of Azerbaijan to the Security Council is a reflection of a very active, and in many ways successful foreign policy pursued by that country. In the election of the last days
Azerbaijan was strongly supported by member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Arab League and the Non Aligned Movement, as well as most CIS countries.

"Elmar Mammadyarov has been a very effective Foreign Minister in many respects, and he has been working to secure the Security Council seat for some time", - Mr. Sammut said and added that as a member of the Security Council Azerbaijan acquires some prestige, but also responsibility.

"The world body is the ultimate guarantor for world peace and members of the Security Council are expected to lead by example", - he emphasized.

When commenting on the fact that the election of Azerbaijan as a non permanent member of the United Nations Security Council became possible despite the Karabakh conflict, the British expert said: "The election of non permanent members of the United Nations Security Council takes place each year in the General Assembly. Each country has a vote, and each country votes on the basis of its national interests, and what it perceives is the best choice for leading this world body. The fact that a country has a dispute with another country has never excluded the election of that country to the Security Council. India and Pakistan have both been members of the Security Council despite their history of wars and conflicts", - he concluded.

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Government forces in Ethiopia, have taken control of the town of Mekelle, capital of the Tigray region. Earlier, Ethiopia's federal military said it had recaptured the main airport in the capital of the northern Tigray region, dealing a major setback to an ​opposition alliance in its stronghold. Clashes pitting a rebel alliance led by Tigray's ruling party ‌against the government and its allied forces broke out in northern Ethiopia last week, in the most serious escalation of violence since a 2020-2022 civil war. The fighting has stoked fears that it could escalate into a wider regional conflict, potentially drawing in neighbouring ​countries in the Horn of Africa and the Gulf. In recent days Ethiopia and Eritrea broke off diplomatic relations amid mutual accusations. In Washington, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott ​said the United States strongly urged Ethiopia and Eritrea to "exercise maximum restraint and return ⁠to dialogue and cooperation as agreed in their 2018 peace framework." "The Horn of Africa cannot sustain another ​military conflict and humanitarian crisis," Pigott said. "A conflict jeopardizes ongoing U.S. collaboration on shared interests with both countries." The ​federal government in Addis Ababa accused Eritrea of supporting the rebel alliance alongside Sudan and Egypt. The three countries deny this. Troops from the Ethiopian National Defence Forces had regained control of Alula Aba ​Nega Airport in Tigray's capital Mekelle,   A Mekelle resident who asked not to be named for security reasons, confirmed the ‌taking of ⁠the airport by government forces and added they could hear gunfire outside the city centre. This source said they had seen some Tigrayan Defence Force fighters abandoning their posts and heading home, and that there was looting of government facilities taking place in the city. Mekelle's airport, which ​is around 10 km (6 miles) from the centre of the city, was ​one of three ⁠airports in the region that were seized by the opposition forces at the start of the fighting on September 23. The taking of Mekelle by government forces would be a major setback for the opposition alliance, although analysts say ⁠it ​would be unlikely to end the conflict. In 2020, federal forces captured ​Mekelle within the first month of the two year war before the TPLF reclaimed it seven months later.

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Today, commonspace.eu starts a new regular weekly series. THURSDAY INTERVIEW, conducted by Lauri Nikulainen, will host  persons who are thinkers, opinion shapers, and implementors in their countries and spheres. We start the series with an interview with Murad Muradov, a leading person in Azerbaijan's think tank community. He is also the first co-chair of the Action Committee for a new Armenian-Azerbaijani Dialogue. Last September he made history by being the first Azerbaijani civil society activist to visit Armenia after the 44 day war, and the start of the peace process. Speaking about this visit Murad Muradov said: "My experience was largely positive. My negative expectations luckily didn’t play out. The discussions were respectful, the panel format bringing together experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey was particularly valuable during the NATO Rose-Roth Seminar in Yerevan, and media coverage, while varied in tone, remained largely constructive. Some media outlets though attempted to represent me as more of a government mouthpiece than an independent expert, which was totally misleading.  Overall, I see these initiatives as important steps in rebuilding trust and normalising professional engagement. The fact that soon a larger Azerbaijani civil society visits to Armenia followed, reinforces the sense that this process is moving in the right direction." (click the image to read the interview in full)