President: Caucasus will see peace based on five Baku-offered principles

President Ilham Aliyev has said that peace will come to the Caucasus on the basis of five principles Baku recently offered for normalizing relations with Armenia.

He made the remarks during the meeting with Polish Foreign Minister, OSCE Chairman-in-Office Zbigniew Rau in Baku.

“The five principles we have initiated reflect the norms of international law and good international conduct. … Reciprocal recognition of territorial integrity and inviolability of international borders, and then the delimitation of borders – I think that peace will come to the Caucasus on this basis. We want it,” he said.

The president underlined that these principles are the fundamental principles of interstate relations between countries.

“We are seeing the potential for active cooperation amongst the three countries of the South Caucasus, and I think that this will be important not only for these countries but also for the wider region,” he said.

He said that all these issues need to be addressed very carefully and in a timely manner.

Moreover, Aliyev thanked Poland for its continuous support in matters of cooperation with the European Union.

“This process is now in full swing, and the European Union has already announced that a new meeting between the Armenian prime minister and myself will be organized by President Charles Michel,” he said.

Expressing hope that this meeting will be productive because there have already been several meetings, the president stated that “we must move towards peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia and sign a peace agreement as soon as possible”.

“In our view, Azerbaijan has laid out the main principles of this agreement,” he said.

Noting that the conflict has already been resolved, Aliyev underlined that now is the time to normalize relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“We are receiving certain messages from Armenian officials. As I was recently informed that one of these messages is that they consider our proposal acceptable. This is very good news, and I hope that this issue will be clarified at the meeting in Brussels,” he said.

Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayraov has described as important the fulfillment of conditions of a ceasefire deal signed by Baku, Yerevan and Moscow on November 10, 2020, to normalize Azerbaijani-Armenian relations.

He made the remarks during a joint press conference with Polish Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairman-in-Office Zbigniew Rau in Baku.

Noting the possibility of normalization of Azerbaijan-Armenia relations, the minister emphasized that the time has come to take concrete steps in this direction.

“Azerbaijan put forward its proposals for peace, but the Armenian side did not react to it,” he said.

Zbigniew Rau underlined that the OSCE is ready to contribute to the peace process and dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"I will call on Armenia to be careful in restoring peace in the South Caucasus. The OSCE is also ready to promote the demarcation process and clarify the fate of missing persons. Our main goal is to ensure long-term peace," he said.

Jeyhun Bayramov highlighted that there is a potential for expanding Azerbaijani-Polish economic relations. He underlined opportunities for the development of bilateral ties in the fields of agriculture, tourism and other areas.