BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 23. The outcome of the trilateral meeting of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of the European Council Charles Michel and Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels should be considered as significant progress in the peace process, Deputy Director General of Trend News Agency Sahil Karimli told Trend.
The meeting has confirmed the utmost importance of five principles laid out by Azerbaijan for peace negotiations, said the political expert.
He noted that trilateral talks, which lasted more than five hours, resulted in number of agreements.
"During the meeting, the expression ‘Nagorno-Karabakh’ was not used, the issue of status wasn't on the agenda either. The relevant negotiation format has fully met the national interests of Azerbaijan. As the country’s president has repeatedly emphasized, there is no administrative territorial unit called Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan. The whole world had to recognize new realities in South Caucasus established after Azerbaijan’s historic victory in the 44-day second Karabakh war," Karimli said.
The political expert also talked about the security of Armenians living in Karabakh. He emphasized that Azerbaijan guarantees their safety.
“The talks also addressed the de-mining operations in Azerbaijan’s liberated territories and the fate of the missing. The country's liberated lands are being promptly cleared of mines in such difficult conditions. The fate of hundreds of Azerbaijanis who were captured or missing during the first Karabakh war remains a priority issue, and Armenia must fulfill its obligations in this regard,” he stated.
Karimli said the demarcation of the Azerbaijan-Armenia border was also one of the key points of the talks. Thus, the sides reached an agreement to hold the first joint meeting of border commissions of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the near future. The commissions will be engaged in border delimitation issues.
“Moreover, the leaders came to an agreement to proceed with opening transport corridors, including the implementation of the Zangazur corridor, as well as with the regulation of international transport, and other issues. Agreement on border management, security, land premiums, as well as customs principles in the context of international transport is yet another step forward. Following the results of the Brussels meeting, the discussion of a future peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan will hopefully be promising," Karimli added.