Envoy: Armenia needs to act quickly to conclude peace treaty with Azerbaijan in its favour

Azerbaijani Ambassador to the UK Elin Suleymanov has said that Armenia should take responsibility for its own future by signing a peace treaty with Azerbaijan.

His statement was published in an article by the Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post, Trend reports.

According to the ambassador, despite all the troubles that the former 30-year Armenian occupation of Azerbaijan brought, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, immediately after Azerbaijan's decisive military victory and the cessation of hostilities in November 2020, proposed Armenia reach a peace agreement.

As the leader of an independent, rapidly growing state, President Aliyev is confident that lasting peace is the best guarantee of sustainable security and development for our entire region, the article says.

The ambassador noted that Azerbaijan understands the key importance of restoring transport and economic links and is now promoting a policy of supporting regional integration, major infrastructure projects and prosperity through successful economic cooperation.

"What we continue to see now is a pragmatic, reality-based approach by Azerbaijan, as opposed to Armenia's continuing ideological reluctance to become a fully integrated part of the region in which it exists," he said.

The dividends that peace can bring are a key element in the normalisation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and today Armenia must finally realise this, Suleymanov writes.

"What the last two years have clearly shown is that delaying the signing of a peace agreement has not improved Yerevan's position, but on the contrary has made it more precarious. What is now needed is for Armenia to act and move from vague statements with contradictory clauses to a demonstration of real readiness for peace. Not to put the peace process on the back burner or pit international actors against each other, but to take responsibility for its own future," the ambassador said.