Aliyev announces the fundamental condition for a peace treaty

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accepted the credentials of Canada's newly appointed Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Kevin Hamilton, and made statements regarding the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"THEY DID NOT WANT THE CONFLICT RESOLVED"

Stating that Azerbaijani lands were subjected to ethnic cleansing, genocide, and destruction during the Armenian occupation, Aliyev said, "We made great efforts to resolve the conflict at that time, but these efforts were fruitless. Thus, three permanent members of the UN Security Council could not provide a solution to the conflict, or rather, they did not want to.

They all wanted the occupation carried out by Armenia to be permanent for various reasons. I met with the former OSCE Minsk Group trio and the Armenian side many times starting from the end of 2003, but all of this brought no results.

The former Minsk Group members and the Armenian side did not want this. The Armenian side wanted to keep our lands under occupation forever," he said.

"THE PROCESS IS MOVING FORWARD"

Expressing that they have achieved better results at a bilateral level without mediators in the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Aliyev said, "This process is moving forward without anyone's interference. We are able to reach an agreement on the determination and even the demarcation of borders. A peace treaty has not been signed yet, but the process of determining the borders is continuing successfully," he said.

"WE CAN CONCLUDE IT WITHIN A FEW MONTHS"

Stating that they are progressing quite quickly in the negotiation process, Aliyev said, "I think we can conclude the work on the text of the peace treaty, at least its main articles, within a few months. I would like to point out that the mediators' plan during the occupation was to reach an agreement on the basic principles called the Madrid principles. These needed to be initialed and then drafted. We believe this could be an option. Such as agreeing on the main articles, initiating them, and then working on the text. If Armenia changes its constitution, this will happen," he stated.

"THE FUNDAMENTAL CONDITION IS THE AMENDMENT OF THE ARMENIAN CONSTITUTION"

Emphasizing that it is difficult to resolve issues that could not be agreed upon with Armenia in 28 years within 1-2 years, Aliyev said, "Substantive negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia began last December. Because before that, Armenia wanted to include the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in the peace treaty, and this was unacceptable. This issue is Azerbaijan's internal matter. Following the elimination of the separatist regime from Karabakh, negotiations have been continuing for only 6 months since December. This process takes time, and of course, the fundamental condition of the peace treaty is the amendment of the Armenian constitution. Because it contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and without this happening, a peace treaty will not be signed. This is a known issue," he said.

STATEMENT ON THE RIGHT OF RETURN

Touching upon the issue of the return of Karabakh Armenians, Aliyev said, "The right of return must be provided on a reciprocal basis, including for representatives of the 'Western Azerbaijan Community' who used to live in Armenia. The Azerbaijani people were ethnically cleansed from Armenian lands for the last time in 1988, and our material and cultural heritage there was completely destroyed," he stated.

News Source: İHA