BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 9. The signing of a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia will only be possible after Yerevan's ceasing to simulate its participation in the peace process and active engagement with the project presented by Azerbaijan a year ago, based on the five fundamental principles of international law, Azerbaijan's Presidential Representative for Special Assignments Elchin Amirbayov told Italian Adnkronos news agency, Trend reports.
Amirbayov highlighted that the positive outcome of a peace agreement will depend on the sincerity of the Armenian government, which sticks with dual approach. He explained that Armenia expresses a desire to sign the peace treaty, and at the same time it initiated a diplomatic war against Azerbaijan.
"In recent days, representatives of the Armenian authorities, visiting Italy, have been abusing various international platforms such as the UN Security Council, the European Parliament, the European Union, and politicizing this issue. Yerevan not only distracts the attention of all interested parties from the main path but also leads the process into a deadlock," Amirbayov said. "To achieve a peace agreement, Armenia must fulfill its previous commitments and promises. Armenia must stop trying to simultaneously pursue its narrow political goals and resume highest-level negotiations on the peace treaty."
He also noted that Armenia's accusations of Azerbaijan regarding the so-called 'ethnic cleansing' and "genocide" in Karabakh are completely unfounded.
"It is Armenia that, for 30 years, pursued a policy of ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis in these territories. On February 26, 1992, Armenia committed genocide in the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. The city was completely destroyed, and 613 Azerbaijanis, including women, elderly, and children, were killed overnight," emphasized the representative of the President of Azerbaijan on special assignments," Amirbayov said.
He underscored that Azerbaijan respects the rights of all its citizens, including residents of Armenian origin in the Karabakh region.
Besides, the official stated that the goal of the reconstruction and construction work carried out by Azerbaijan in the Karabakh economic region is to eliminate the consequences of destruction caused by Armenia during the nearly 30-year occupation.
"The Azerbaijani government has spent over $7 billion on restoring infrastructure in the liberated territories. However, we still face a serious problem in these areas, filled with anti-personnel and anti-tank mines and other unexploded ordnance," noted Amirbayov. "During the occupation, Armenia laid about 1.5 million anti-personnel mines in these territories. The number of mine victims in Azerbaijan is steadily increasing. Since the cessation of hostilities until today, 337 people have been blown up by mines."
Speaking about Azerbaijani-Italian relations, he mentioned that they are currently at a high level, based on excellent political dialogue and very active economic cooperation. The official pointed out that cooperation between Azerbaijan and Italy is not limited to gas supplies, although they are an important part of it.
"We are exploring the possibility of extending and diversifying our economic and trade cooperation with Italy, which Azerbaijan considers one of its key partners in the European Union," Amirbayov said.
He said that another field of the cooperation is education, and the two countries are taking forward the Italian-Azerbaijani university project. Besides, according to him, the countries may also look at further developing cooperation in tourism, defense and agriculture sectors.
"The potential for developing already existing cooperation "is enormous because there is good will and an excellent environment" Amirbayov added.
He also noted that Azerbaijan wants the soonest possible ceasefire in the Middle East.
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