Azerbaijan is ready to sign a peace agreement with Armenia, the reluctance of official Yerevan to do so could be a big mistake. This opinion was expressed by President Ilham Aliyev, speaking on Wednesday at a meeting with family members of those killed and disabled in the Karabakh war.
"I have said several times that we are ready to sign a peace agreement with Armenia, that is, ready to start this work. But there is no reaction from Armenia, no official reaction. Through unofficial channels, information reaches us that Armenia is not ready for this. I think that this will be a big mistake. <...> It can become another big mistake," said Aliyev, as quoted by the AZERTAC news agency.
The Azerbaijani leader underscored that Baku's proposal is based on the new reality. "We believe that the issue (Nagorno-Karabakh conflict) has been solved, there should be a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. There should be mutual recognition of territorial integrity, recognition of borders, work on the delimitation (of the border) should be started," the Azerbaijani president stressed.
The situation in the conflict zone around Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on September 27, 2020, when active hostilities broke out there. On November 9 of the same year, a trilateral statement was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, which allowed to achieve a complete cessation of hostilities in the conflict zone. The Azerbaijani and Armenian sides halted their positions, a number of areas came under Baku's control, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the line of contact and the Lachin corridor.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS