Ilham Aliyev: State of peace has prevailed along Azerbaijan-Armenia border for several months

“There is already de facto peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and a state of peace has prevailed along the border of the two countries for several months. However, in order to bring logical conclusion to this process, a peace treaty must be signed, and Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan must be brought to an end,” said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as he received Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Martin Chungong, Report informs citing AZERTAC.

The head of state said that despite the Minsk Group had been engaged in the process of resolving the conflict for 28 years, no results were achieved, Azerbaijani territories were not been liberated from occupation, and the return of internally displaced persons was not ensured. “While the Azerbaijani side rightfully put forward proposals to put pressure on Armenia and impose appropriate sanctions against it when Azerbaijani territories were under occupation, the member states of the Minsk Group did not take any steps in this direction at that time.”

President Ilham Aliyev pointed out that after the end of the 44-day Patriotic War in 2020, Azerbaijan as the initiator of the peace agenda in the region proposed to sign a peace treaty with Armenia. “However, Armenia did not provide an adequate response to this proposal. Therefore, Azerbaijan put forward five principles in accordance with the norms and principles of international law, which form the basis of the peace agreement, making Azerbaijan the initiator of the negotiation process on the peace treaty.”

The head of state stated that after the end of the 44-day Patriotic War in 2020, Armenia did not fulfill a number of obligations it undertook under the trilateral Statement, and over the past three years, Armenia continued to support separatism in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan through financial, military and other means.

The President of Azerbaijan said that the congratulatory message sent by the Armenian leadership on the occasion of the “independence” of the so-called “Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh” on September 2 last year, as well as the so-called “presidential elections” held on September 9 seriously undermined the peace process, emphasizing that Azerbaijan undertook anti-terrorism measures to ensure its territorial integrity and sovereignty.