There is real opportunity to end confrontation between Azerbaijan, Armenia – Assistant to Azerbaijan’s First VP

Today we have a real opportunity to finally put an end to the confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Elchin Amirbeyov, assistant to the First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, said this in an interview for Polish TV’s Ezhedelnik, Azernews reports, citing Trend.

“In 1992, part of Azerbaijan was under Armenian occupation. And no one reacted to this injustice. Perhaps if international organizations had reacted in the early 1990s immediately after the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan, and if this reaction had been noticeable, the scale and consequences this tragic conflict would have been different. And other similar conflicts in the world would not have flared up, including in our neighborhood. However, I want to note that today we have a real opportunity to put an end to this long conflict,” he said.

Amirbekov stressed that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declares Armenia’s full readiness to recognize Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.

“After the termination of the negotiation process by Armenia since December last year, the negotiations were resumed in May of this year. The Armenian side probably understands that it is difficult to achieve peace without negotiations with Azerbaijan. We have already had several new meetings, some progress has been made. We are convinced that the next rounds will allow us to reduce the differences between us,” he said.

The assistant to the First Vice President also noted that the citizens of Armenia themselves are beginning to understand that without peace with Azerbaijan there will be no full-fledged economic development of their country.

“It is necessary to think pragmatically. The end of the conflict will lead to the opening of borders, as well as new economic and other opportunities for the entire region. For 30 years, Armenia has not become a more economically successful state, including due to the lack of oil and gas resources. They see the state of their economy and the fact that they cannot develop – and the reason is that for 30 years they have been focused on occupying part of our territory. We offer peace to Armenia, and, in our opinion, this is a win-win situation for all parties. We want a lasting peace, which will cover the entire South Caucasus. We do not want our countries to see each other as enemies. We want them to consider themselves at least neighbors, and perhaps even friends,” the official added.