Presidential representative reveals Baku's plans for peaceful coexistence Reintegration, peace, dialogue

For peaceful coexistence with the Azerbaijanis, the Armenian residents of Karabakh must recognize that power belongs to Azerbaijan, said the Representative of the President of Azerbaijan for Special Assignments, Elchin Amirbayov.

In an interview with the French radio station Radio France on October 11, Amirbayov noted that it is not reasonable to characterize the latest events in Karabakh as ethnic cleansing.

“It is not very fair to characterize what happened recently in Karabakh as ethnic cleansing. This is a very serious charge. This means that the [Azerbaijani] government wants to force part of the population to leave its territory because of their ethnicity or religion. We must emphasize that the target of the local anti-terrorist measures taken by Azerbaijan on September 19 was only illegal military facilities. We knew exactly where the separatist positions were and immediately announced to the local civilian population that they were not under attack," Report quotes Amirbayov as saying.

He added that the civilians in Karabakh have been asked not to worry and stay at home during the counter-terrorism campaign.

"We have never attacked civilian infrastructure or civilian populations. It's not just me saying this. This territory was also visited by a UN mission on October 1. UN representatives met with the Armenians who remained there and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross. They also spoke with representatives of the Russian military that make up the peacekeeping contingent. This is proof that civilians were not attacked," Amirbayov said.

According to him, the Azerbaijani government has no desire to deprive the residents of Armenian origin in Karabakh of their rights, recalling the dialogue between the central government of Azerbaijan and representatives of the Armenian residents of Karabakh shortly after the anti-terror measures.

"We had three meetings over ten days. We have tried to present our vision of their future in various areas of their lives, including all types of social, economic, political, humanitarian, linguistic, and religious rights. This clearly shows that the Azerbaijani government has no desire to deprive these people of their rights. But for peaceful coexistence with the Azerbaijanis, they must recognize that power belongs to Azerbaijan," Amirbayov said, adding they have to recognize the sovereignty of Azerbaijan.

"Some have already expressed a desire to become citizens of Azerbaijan. It is true that when you leave your home in this atmosphere of panic and stress, it is not easy to decide to return after a week. So perhaps we need to wait a bit so that these people can reconsider their decision to leave Azerbaijan. And when they express a desire to return, then we can really engage with them,” Amirbayov stated.

Meanwhile, he also reaffirmed that Azerbaijan does not intend to start a war with Armenia, but wants to resume negotiations to achieve peace:

“Of course, if Armenia attacks us, we will not sit idly by. But I don’t believe that this is in the interests of Armenia. We need to return to the path of negotiations and take advantage of the EU's desire to advance the peace process. It is necessary to talk about the delimitation of borders and lines of communication. If Armenia joins our efforts to establish peace and stability, we are fully prepared to contribute. Charles Michel has done a good job as President of the European Council in promoting the resumption of negotiations. We are again ready for negotiations with the European Union in a trilateral format,” Amirbayov said.

According to him, Azerbaijan will once again confirm in the peace treaty its unconditional commitment to the territorial integrity of the countries.

“We will put an end to this enmity that has been going on for almost thirty years. Armenia's statements that Azerbaijan is preparing for a new war are completely unfounded. We respect the territorial integrity of Armenia, like all other countries in the world,” Amirbayov concluded.