President Aliyev: There are serious opportunities for normalization of Azerbaijan-Armenia ties UPDATED

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that there are prerequisites for the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia on the basis of mutual recognition of territorial integrity.

“Azerbaijan's cooperation with Eurasian Economic Union member countries, with the exception of Armenia, has been successfully developing for 30 years,” said Aliyev as he addressed an expanded meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Moscow, Azertag reports.

“There are serious opportunities for the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia on the basis of mutual recognition of territorial integrity and sovereignty. Today, on the initiative of the Russian side, a trilateral meeting of the heads of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan will take place,” the head of state noted.

"I believe that there are opportunities to reach a peace agreement, especially considering that Armenia has officially recognized Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan," Aliyev said.

President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan has not blocked any corridor, and the Lachin-Khankendi road is open. The border crossing point on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been established in accordance with all international norms.

He made the remarks at an enlarged session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, responding to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's baseless accusations of blocking the Lachin road.

The president stressed that this border crossing point is 20 meters from the post of the Russian peacekeeping contingent.

"As of today, residents of Azerbaijan of Armenian nationality who live in Karabakh freely move towards Armenia through this border checkpoint. There are no obstacles," the head of state said, adding that vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross and ambulances also freely pass through this road.

"Any unbiased person should naturally see that. I think there is no need to try to use the tribune for groundless accusations," the President of Azerbaijan stressed.

"Regarding the Zangezur corridor, if you listen carefully to my statement, it says "that Azerbaijan initiated the creation of the Zangezur corridor. It is our right to initiate anything. What we think is right, legitimate, reasonable and what, by the way, is supported by the Russian Federation and other parties involved in the settlement of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan," Aliyev added while responding to the baseless accusations made by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.