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MP: Azerbaijan-Russia relations developing steadily, dynamically

Politics Materials 18 December 2018 10:59 (UTC +04:00)
The Azerbaijan-Russia relations are developing steadily and have high dynamics, Azerbaijani MP Hikmat Babaoglu told Trend.
MP: Azerbaijan-Russia relations developing steadily, dynamically

Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 18

By Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:

The Azerbaijan-Russia relations are developing steadily and have high dynamics, Azerbaijani MP Hikmat Babaoglu told Trend.

“The relations between the two countries are strategic and multi-vectoral,” he added.

"These relations are based on mutual interests and effective cooperation within bilateral and multilateral formats, as well as within international organizations,” Babaoglu said. “Therefore, these relations can be assessed as strategic cooperation. This cooperation can be observed in socio-economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres. But of course, the most important strategic issue in these relations is the role of Russia, which it can play in solving the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh problem as a neighboring country and a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group."

“Russia historically has an important military and political advantage in the Caucasus region,” he said.

“From this point of view, Azerbaijan is able to assess historical and current political realities and fairly establishes further strategic relations with such an important country,” Babaoglu said. “The 2018 was a year that gave new positive impulses to further relations. For many years, the problem of the legal status of the Caspian Sea was solved by signing the convention, taking into account the interests of all sides.”

“In September, the Russian president paid a working visit to Azerbaijan, while the Azerbaijani president visited Russia,” he said. “Moreover, during the meeting of the CIS heads of state in St. Petersburg, important negotiations were held between the presidents of the two countries. Therefore, while receiving Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev called this meeting important from the point of view of the analysis of the joint work carried out in 2018, the planned work to be carried out in 2019, and described 2018 as a productive year in terms of development of the interstate relations."

Babaoglu also said that an important condition for the potential development and mutual integration of political and economic relations in the region is the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"Amid the current complex global cataclysms in the world, Russia, creating a stable regional union ready for cooperation, must be interested in ensuring its own security,” he said. “Presently, no country is able to ensure its own security independently. Russian diplomats are also aware of that.”

He added that therefore, rapid settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict also means ensuring of the security of Russia's southern borders.

"Azerbaijan, as a reliable partner, is ready to coordinate its national interests with the interests of regional security and establish further strategic relations with Russia, which is Azerbaijan’s strategic ally," Babaoglu added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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