Azerbaijani FM confirms progress in relations with Armenia BRIEFING

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has said that there has been constant progress on the agenda of mutual recognition of sovereignty between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Bayramov made the remarks at a press conference on the results of the year, Report informs.

He said anti-Azerbaijani initiatives on various international platforms were prevented. 

Consistent work has been carried out throughout the year to neutralize threats against Azerbaijan, Bayramov said.

“For a long time, until November, we did not receive any reaction from Armenia regarding the peace proposals.”

He noted that Armenia itself has confirmed that: "There were physical meetings in 2023, but there has been a stagnation in recent months. We are confident that we will witness the resumption of meetings in 2024."

Negotiations are underway regarding eight villages under occupation of Armenia.

Bayramov noted that official Yerevan has certain claims on this issue: "We are talking about specific settlements. No one has any doubts about who these settlements belong to. Our position is fair."

The minister emphasised that the delimitation process is a rather specific and technical issue: "The border issue should be resolved as a part of the delimitation process. Azerbaijan is interested in resolving the peace issue as soon as possible. But the issue of delimitation may take more time.”

The minister also said important results were achieved at high-level meetings with Türkiye, Georgia and Russia during this year.  

According to him, although the biased policy of some circles created certain challenges for Azerbaijan's foreign policy, they were overcome.

"Our foreign policy was rich in content. The policy pursued under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev is aimed at ensuring the national interests of our state. In 2023, Azerbaijan restored its sovereignty and territorial integrity. During the year, important results were achieved at high-level meetings with Türkiye, Georgia and Russia."

Large-scale work continues to maintain the relevance of the issue of missing persons at the international level, Bayramov noted.

As he said, a consistent, systematic and resolute foreign policy was pursued in the direction of combating the defamatory campaigns conducted by Armenia and its patrons.

"As a result of the purposeful work carried out under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, anti-Azerbaijani initiatives on an international scale were prevented - in the EU, the International Court of Justice, the UN Security Council," the minister said.

He noted that in 2023, four official and one informal meetings were held between the leader and the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan were held.

Bayramov also said that he may with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan at the state border.

Negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia should not become a hostage of a third party.

The minister noted that foreign ministers and delegations of Azerbaijan and Armenia can meet at the state border. Azerbaijan made such a proposal.

He recalled that the commissions on the delimitation of the two countries have already met twice on the border.