Azerbaijan Optimistic Peace Agreement With Armenia Can Be Achieved

KUALA LUMUR, May 6 (Bernama) -- Azerbaijan which is in a three decades conflict with neighbouring Armenia and involved in a war in 2020 to liberate its occupied territories, is optimistic that a peace agreement for long lasting and sustainable settlement could be achieved to their protracted conflict, said Azerbaijan ambassador to Malaysia Irfan Davudov. The ambassador said the optimism arised from the post-war realities and "positive signals" from Armenia as well as the international community toward achieving that elusive long lasting peace. "More than ever in the context of post-war realities, the present situation is the best time and presents the best opportunity… I think we are very optimistic because there is good and positive signals from both sides toward achieving a long lasting peace," he told Bernama in an interview at his office recently. Davudov said a long lasting peace will not only be in the interests of both countries and their peoples but also for the overall regional security and stability in the South Caucasus region, especially in the current uncertain global geopolitics. He said Armenia also must understand that the creation of a peaceful environment between Yerevan and Baku is vital for its economic development adding that the gas and oil rich Azerbaijan is not an enemy to anyone. Davudov explained that Baku under the wise leadership of President Ilham Aliyev had taken and is taking all necessary steps and measures to put behind the dark past between the two countries so that their peoples could live peacefully again. On April 6, President Aliyev met Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels, Belgium where among others both agreed to begin preparations for peace talks and also to setup a bilateral commission on border delimitation and demarcation issues. On April 9 Anadolu reported quoting Aliyev that Armenia had accepted the document submitted by Azerbaijan on five principles to normalise bilateral ties. The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia started in 1988 – three years before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, – which Azerbaijan said 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 mountainous part of Karabakh and seven surrounding districts. Following the Second Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan which erupted on Sept 27, 2020, where Azerbaijan liberated many 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. Since then, there has been military escalation between the two countries on several occasions. Davudov pointed out that the war happened following failure after failures of negotiations for almost 28 years especially by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group's mediation which he said failed to produce any positive results. "By having peace, both countries can concentrate and divert their energy and resources on economic and social development… and in the case of Azerbaijan we are also actively undertaking reconstruction of our liberated areas destroyed during the occupation," he said. The ambassador also pointed out to President Aliyev’s question and answer session at a recently held international conference held at ADA University, Baku, which explained some past and recent developments on the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace process. In that session, Aliyev mentioned that Azerbaijan have been actively advocating for a new era in the Caucasus, an era of peace and cooperation and had finally received a positive response from Armenia just recently. "Their government accepted five basic principles which Azerbaijan put forward, the principles which should be a foundation for a peace agreement with Armenia. At the same time, also, based on Azerbaijan’s proposal, Armenia finally agreed to establish joint working groups with Azerbaijan to start the process of delimitation of our border. I think these are important signs of recent development," he said. Aliyev had further said that if a peace agreement is signed and those basic principles are known, then the peace in the Caucasus will be long-lasting and sustainable. Citing Azerbaijan's own economic performance which is based on its own resources, the president stressed the economic performance was also generated by stability - long-lasting stability, and that without security there will be no cooperation and no economic benefits. "We have good relations with all our neighbours, not only with Turkey and Russia but also with Georgia and Iran. We hope to have good relations with Armenia and thus, we will be surrounded by the area of stability. That’s what we want in order to concentrate on peace agenda and on economy in order not to spend billions of dollars every year for purchasing arms, but to divert it into economy and reconstruction," he said. -- BERNAMA