President: Azerbaijan seeks to open new page of peace with Armenia

KARABAKH  05 October 2022 - 13:20

President Ilham Aliyev has said that Azerbaijan seeks to end hostility with Armenia and open a new page of peace.

He made the remarks at the first-ever National Urban Forum, which was held in the city of Aghdam on October 5, Caliber.Az reports.

"We have some optimism with respect to the peace process [with Armenia]. Because just recently, several days ago there was a meeting of foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the first meeting of that kind, particularly with the agenda of the preparation of the draft of the peace agreement. We hope that it will not take a long time. We know the tactics which Armenians usually use when they don't want to come to an agreement, like negotiations on the Karabakh conflict for 28 years. If that continues, then we will have no peace. If this is a choice for Armenia, that means they will make another serious mistake. We want to put an end to hostility, and hatred and we want to open a new page of peace. Whether we will succeed or not we will see. I am not sure, but at least, we are moving in that direction," the president said in his address to the forum.

The president detailed the draft of a peace agreement that Azerbaijan wants to sign with Armenia.

"We made a proposal soon after the second Karabakh war. Despite what you see in Aghdam and anyone can see in the territory of more than 10,000 square kilometres, totally destroyed by Armenians, despite the human sufferings of our people, we proposed peace to Armenia. We announced publicly five basic principles of international law which should be the basis for a peace agreement, particularly the mutual recognition of territorial integrity of countries, refrain from territorial claims in the future, refrain from the use of force or threat of use of force, delimitation of the state border and opening of communications. So, these are actually basic principles of international law and think peace agreements or any kind of agreements between countries, which are trying to normalise their relations, must be based on that," he said.

Aliyev described the future plight of Armenians living in Karabakh as Azerbaijan's internal affair.

"With respect to the Armenian population, who still live in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, they are our citizens and we are not going to discuss how we are going to organise their life in our territory with any international player. Karabakh is Azerbaijan... [As for] issues related to our internal affairs, we never discuss them with international institutions or with any country regardless of the size and potential of that country," he noted.

The two-day forum on October 5-6 presents Azerbaijan's achievements in sustainable urban development, including in the territories liberated from the long-term Armenian occupation in autumn 2020, calls for expanding international cooperation in this area, exchanging experience in the smart and inclusive development of urbanization, discussing issues of restoring the settlements destroyed during, etc.

Caliber.Az