KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 (NNN-Bernama) — Azerbaijan is hopeful that it will ultimately achieve a peace agreement with neighbouring Armenia, where both countries were involved in the 2020 war, said its Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov.
“I am hopeful, but I cannot say I am confident,” he said when asked whether Baku is confident of achieving a peace agreement with Yerevan.
He said the Azerbaijani government had been consistent and resolute in its policy to pursue the peace agenda with Armenia, after almost 30 years of protracted conflict between the two countries.
“We are looking to the future…I am hopeful there will be a peace agreement, but it takes two to tango,” he said.
Mammadov said this at the Azerbaijan’s embassy here, during his recent visit to Malaysia. He was here as part of his trip to Southeast Asian countries. Azerbaijan ambassador to Malaysia Irfan Davudov was also present.
The deputy minister said post-war realities is not favouring Armenia, but Armenia will gain more than Azerbaijan especially economically if there is long lasting peace.
On April 6, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev met Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels, Belgium, where both agreed to begin preparations for peace talks and also to set up a bilateral commission on border delimitation and demarcation issues.
On April 9, Aliyev was quoted as saying that Armenia had accepted the document submitted by Azerbaijan on five principles to normalise bilateral ties, including a mutual recognition of each other’s territorial integrity. Following that, Armenia submitted a six-point statement on the peace plan offered by Azerbaijan
The first meeting between Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev, who chairs the state commission for the delimitation of border with Armenia, and his Armenian counterpart Mher Grigoryan who chairs the commission on border demarcation and border security between Armenia and Azerbaijan, took place on May 24 along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
A day earlier, the European Council President Charles Michel hosted President Aliyev and Pashinyan in Brussels for a third trilateral meeting since last December.
President Aliyev had also said that if Armenia continues to call into question Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, then Azerbaijan will do the same against Armenia.
Mammadov pointed out that a long lasting peace between the oil and gas-rich Azerbaijan and Armenia would contribute to security and stability in the South Caucasus region.
The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia started in 1988 – three years before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 – following Armenia’s illegal and groundless claims against the country.
And in 1992, war broke out between the two former Soviet states, resulting in Armenia’s occupation of 20 per cent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognised territory, including the mountainous part of Karabakh and seven surrounding districts, and also resulted in one million Azerbaijani becoming refugees and Internally Displaced People (IDP).
The Second Karabakh War, which erupted on Sept 27, 2020, resulted in Azerbaijan liberating all of its occupied lands. The two countries signed a Russian-brokered agreement on Nov 10, 2020, to end the fighting and work towards the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement.
— NNN-BERNAMA
