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President Ilham Aliyev has said that Azerbaijan’s peace agenda is aimed at regional development.

He made the remarks at the international conference “South Caucasus: Development and Cooperation”, which was held at ADA University on April 29.

“Our peace agenda and initiatives which have been publicly articulated and were supported by the international community is aimed at regional development, new opportunities for regional development in the South Caucasus. Not only between Azerbaijan and Armenia, of course, this is one of the most important elements of regional cooperation, but in the Southern Caucasus in general,” he said.

The president noted that this opportunity was lost for 30 years because of separatism, Armenian aggression and because the South Caucasus was not integrated.

“I think that there should be also an understanding in Armenia that they cannot continue to live like an isolated island in this region. They need to normalize relations with us, they need to put down territorial claims to Azerbaijan and to Turkiye and not to be hesitant in any kind of interaction on a trilateral level in the South Caucasus,” he said.

Aliyev stated that Azerbaijan has previously proposed trilateral meetings at various levels, which have been supported by leading international organizations.

Recalling how Azerbaijan and Georgia have integrated while considering energy and transportation routes, the president stated that there is also an opportunity to invite Armenia to be a part of regional development and that they will benefit from it.

“They will benefit from getting access to our energy resources. They can be to a certain degree a part of the international transportation corridors. So that in itself will generate additional wealth. And also, normalizing relations with Azerbaijan will open such opportunities for Armenia that probably today it is difficult even to predict. So these are our plans,” he said.

Strengthening new realities, positive trends

The president added that the main concentration is on how to rebuild Karabakh and how to return the former refugees as soon as possible.

“But apart from that, the last year since we have met and discussed last April, one of the important tasks in front of us was to strengthen the new realities and to work with leading international organizations to present our case, to present our vision for the region and also it was very important that the international community, the leading international organizations accept the new realities on the ground, and it happened,” he said.

Noting that Azerbaijan has been actively advocating for a new era in the Caucasus, an era of peace and cooperation, the president stressed that finally, Azerbaijan got a positive response from Armenia and their government accepted five basic principles, which should be a foundation for a peace agreement.

“At the same time, also, based on Azerbaijani proposal Armenia agreed finally 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 and also it shows that now after a year and a half passed since the second Karabakh war, Armenian leadership and I hope population understands the necessity of peace,” he said.

Aliyev emphasized that if a peace agreement is signed and those basic principles are known, then, peace in the Caucasus will be long-lasting and sustainable.

“This is what we want, and I think that what we demonstrate and what we announce is a clear example of our will to contribute to the peace in the Caucasus,” he said.

Moreover, recalling that the Armenian government also announced a peace agenda, he noted that this is a very positive statement but at the same time, there is a need to see actions.

“And now I think, we see these actions, we see statements coming from the Armenian government, which are aimed at peace, which are based on the new realities in the region, and which are based on international law. That’s what we always were advocating for,” he said.

The president underlined the importance that the Armenian government and political spectrum fully realize the new realities and totally refrain from any kind of attempts to take revenge.

“All our efforts will be aimed at strengthening the positive trends. But we cannot do it unilaterally. We need to see in the Armenian government a partner, which we can trust and which we can agree on a long-term peace. So, I think that it is possible, but of course, it will depend on the internal political development in Armenia,” he said.

Aliyev also emphasized that in the region there is a need to think about security and cooperation as an integral part of today and the future.

“Because without security there will be no cooperation, there will be no economic benefits,” he said.

Mines issue

Speaking about the planted mines, Aliyev underlined that it is one of the big problems and tragedies, adding that after the war ended more than 200 people, military and civilians were killed or seriously injured because of the mines.

“It is very difficult now to demine the area because physically we don’t have a capacity. Now we are increasing the number of personnel, we are purchasing the new equipment, new machines, including, very sophisticated like drones which can detect the mines contaminated area, but it takes a lot of time and efforts,” he said.

The president recalled that Armenians had 10 to 20 days to leave the territories which they had to leave based on the agreement signed on November 10, but they used it for planting mines, for burning houses that they did not build.

Speaking about the international support, Aliyev stated that unfortunately, Azerbaijan did not get any support from any international organization so far.

“What we do, we do it at our own expense. We wanted to contract several international companies which can help us to speed up the process, but unfortunately, the price they want to charge is several times higher than the cost we pay for our demining agency,” he said.

Recalling the last conversation with EU Council President Charles Michel, the president noted that “he told me that they will allocate 5 million euros for demining”.

“We are grateful for that but of course, it will not make big difference. We need serious support and also from international NGOs who deal with the mine problems. None of them so far turned their eye toward Azerbaijan. We know that several NGOs, and foundations, help countries to get rid of the mines, but in our case, nobody is helping. And everything that is done on the liberated territories is done with the financial source of the Azerbaijani budget only. Not a single dollar we got from any country or any international organization. And of course, it is not fair. It is double standards but what to do we live in this world. But anyway, no matter who will help us or not, we will clean the area,” he said.

Additionally, the president noted that oil and gas delivery to Karabakh did not start yet.

“But of course, we have plans to build gas lines, I mean to that part of Karabakh where we are now implementing the reconstruction works,” he said.

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