“Karabakh conflict is already history, there is nothing more to discuss,” Ilham Aliyev

Baku/31.10.22/Turan: The Karabakh conflict was resolved two years ago, and there is practically nothing to discuss in this context, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said today at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi. At the same time, Aliyev stressed the importance of taking "very serious steps" towards the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.

Welcoming Aliyev, Putin noted that the goal of the Sochi meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Russian Federation is to ensure the implementation of all trilateral agreements that were reached in 2020 and 2021.

According to Putin, Russia played a prominent, important role in resolving the conflict. “And now our peacekeeping contingent is fulfilling its mission the way it should be doing it... And today, of course, we will have to talk about the situation that has developed today, look for ways to resolve issues that have not yet been resolved. And in this regard, I would also note an important component of an economic nature: we have created a trilateral working group, which is headed by deputy prime ministers. They have advanced quite far in terms of resolving the issues that we spoke about two years ago. Here, too, apparently, it is necessary to give additional impetus. I know that the Azerbaijani side is working quite actively in this vein,” Putin said. The range of questions is quite large, he added.

Aliyev, for his part, noted Putin's role in resolving the Karabakh conflict, when a tripartite declaration was signed two years ago that put an end to the long-term conflict. "Now it's time to speak and act towards the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia," Aliyev further pointed out. Azerbaijan relatively recently put forward five basic principles on which relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia should be normalized, Aliyev recalled.

These are the fundamental principles of international law, and I think that normalization can be achieved on this basis, the President of Azerbaijan stressed. “The Karabakh conflict is already history, it was resolved two years ago, so there is practically nothing to discuss in this context. And the normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations is a format that, of course, requires very serious steps. We count on your active personal role and the role of Russia in achieving these goals,” continued Aliyev. —06В-