Hikmat Hajiyev says Azerbaijan and Armenia are close to peace but peace agenda negatively affected by certain policies

Today Azerbaijan and Armenia are as close to peace as never before but there are certain policies that are negatively affecting regional peace agenda, Hikmat Hajiyev, Assistant to President of Azerbaijan - head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration said in an interview with China's Phoenix TV channel.

Hajiyev said that before this situation formed, Azerbaijan was obliged to exercise its right to self-defense and restore its territorial integrity and sovereignty in line with Article 51 of the UN Charter because the country faced double standards and justification of the policy of foreign military aggression and occupation and encouragement of separatism.

"Again as for any other country, it was also unacceptable for Azerbaijan," Hikmat Hajiyev said.

According to Hajiyev, Baku and Yerevan must turn the page of confrontation and move forward, and strengthen responsibility for the peace treaty. He added that this process may be long.

"We ensured peace and security," he said.

Now Armenia and Azerbaijan are as close to peace as never before, Hikmat Hajiyev said, adding that the last six months on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border are the calmest in the history of the two countries.

"We drafted the text of the peace treaty, though we were subjects of the military occupation, and we also formulated five fundamental principles of the peace treaty," he said.

"We are progressing well with regards to the peace treaty. But Azerbaijan's approach is that peace lies between Azerbaijan and Armenia because this region belongs to us. Peace is not in Washington or in Brussels or in Paris. Peace is here, I mean in the region of the South Caucasus and between the two countries," he said.

"We see that we are progressing well. But, unfortunately, there are certain policies that are negatively affecting regional cooperation and regional peace agenda," Hajiyev said.