Baku is aimed at a peaceful resolution of existing issues with Yerevan, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev said in an interview with TASS.
When asked whether Azerbaijan could again resort to force, as it did in 2020, the assistant to the President of Azerbaijan refrained from making hypothetical forecasts.
“I would not like to comment on hypothetical scenarios. Azerbaijan is a responsible member of the international community and always acts in accordance with the provisions of its constitution and international law. We are aimed at peaceful resolution of all existing issues,” he emphasized.
Commenting on the topic of possible compromises that Baku is ready to make in dialogue with Yerevan, Hajiyev noted that the Azerbaijani side will not discuss “either with Armenia or with any third country issues that call into question the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan.”
“Attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of our state, including by pushing the topic of creating some kind of international mechanisms for dialogue between the central government of Azerbaijan and the ethnic Armenian minority in Karabakh, are doomed to failure,” he noted.
“Karabakh is an internal issue of Azerbaijan, and any attempt to challenge this is counterproductive from the perspective of achieving sustainable peace in the region,” Hajiyev said.
“We still hope for the signing of a peace treaty before the end of this year and call on the Armenian political leadership to take the main step - officially, with their signature under the peace treaty, to record recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including the Karabakh economic region of our republic, and to commit to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of our country in the future. Including through attempts to bring our internal issues, such as issues of our interaction with our citizens of Armenian ethnic origin in Karabakh, to international platforms under the pretext of ensuring the rights and security of this population group. These are our citizens, and their rights and security will be ensured by the Constitution of Azerbaijan,” he underlined.
According to the assistant to the President, it is important that Armenia abandons the policy of financing separatism in Azerbaijan. “As for the activities of international mediators, we highly appreciate their contribution to the normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations,” he added.
Hajiyev highlighted the important role of Russia in this process, “whose active mediation ensured the signing of a trilateral agreement in November 2020, which put an end to large-scale hostilities.”
“The European Union and the United States also make their contribution to the negotiation process. In general, each of the negotiation tracks is unique in its own way and helps conduct a dialogue between Baku and Yerevan on the most problematic issues.”
