Azerbaijani President Aliyev makes statement on peace with Armenia

The 6th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, held in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, began with an official opening ceremony at the Heydar Aliyev Center.

The opening ceremony was attended by guests from various countries around the world, Azerbaijani state and government officials, members of parliament, representatives of religious communities, and diplomatic representatives.

In his speech, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that Azerbaijan is working very actively for peace and has taken the initiative to begin peace treaty negotiations with Armenia.

President Aliyev reported that negotiations are currently ongoing between the two countries and that these negotiations are being conducted by Azerbaijan.

"WE WERE SUBJECTED TO POLITICAL ATTACKS"

Stating that Azerbaijan and Armenia are one step closer to peace, Aliyev said, "After we fully restored our territorial integrity and sovereignty in September of last year, we were subjected to political attacks by Armenia's external backers.

Despite this, we still offered peace. We are now actually moving towards peace in a positive way; the delimitation of borders has begun.

Not only the delimitation of borders, but even the demarcation of borders has begun. We achieved this between the two countries without any intermediaries. This shows once again that an intermediary is not necessary for us," he said.

"WE WANT PEACE IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS"

Criticizing countries that want to interfere in the peace process with Armenia, Aliyev said, "They want to interfere in our region for their own personal, political, and economic interests.

They want to add fuel to that fire. We will not allow this in the South Caucasus; we will not give them the opportunity. After thirty years of conflict, Armenia also clearly understands that we want peace in the South Caucasus, and peace can only be achieved in this region through normalization between Azerbaijan and Armenia," he said.

Azerbaijani President Aliyev also touched upon the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), which Azerbaijan will host in November, stating that thanks to its geographical location and interaction with European institutions, Azerbaijan has taken on the role of a bridge.