ANTALYA, Türkiye, April 12. A panel discussion on "Challenges and Opportunities for Regional Cooperation in the South Caucasus" is currently underway within the framework of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Trend reports.
The panel is attended by Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, Georgia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Maka Botchorishvili, and Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.
In his remarks, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov highlighted that the liberation of Azerbaijan’s occupied territories has created historic opportunities for peace in the region.
"Immediately after the end of the 44-day Patriotic War and the liberation of the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, historic opportunities for normalization emerged. Soon after, Azerbaijan proposed to Armenia to begin the normalization process and negotiations for a peace agreement. Azerbaijan initiated this process, and numerous rounds of talks followed. Last month, the parties made significant progress after nearly two and a half years and agreed on a text for the peace agreement, which we consider a major step forward," he stated.
Bayramov stressed that further steps are needed to finalize the peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
"There are additional steps that must be taken to complete this process and sign the peace agreement. This has been Azerbaijan’s long-standing and consistent position, which is well known in Armenia. First and foremost, the outdated and non-functional Minsk Group must be dissolved. Secondly, Armenia must remove territorial claims against Azerbaijan from its Constitution. We believe that once these necessary steps are taken, there will be no further obstacles to concluding and signing an agreement for peace and interstate relations between the two countries," he added.
Bayramov also pointed out that Azerbaijan’s Constitution does not include any references to geographical names or territories of modern Armenia.
"Regarding the statements made by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan about concerns over the provisions of Azerbaijan’s Constitution, they are not true. There are no references to geographical names or territories of the modern Republic of Armenia in Azerbaijan’s Constitution. I believe our Armenian colleagues are well aware of this; otherwise, they would have raised this issue. As is known, the legal systems of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and other countries are generally similar. International agreements cannot be concluded if their provisions contradict the Constitution of a country," he said.
Georgia’s Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili expressed that Georgia is sincerely interested in promoting peace and stability in the region.
"We have a strategic partnership with Azerbaijan, based on friendship and very good cooperation, which is a strong asset in our region. We also traditionally have very good relations with Armenia, which have recently been upgraded to a strategic partnership. We are genuinely interested in fostering peace and stability in our region. Therefore, we always say, and I repeat from here, that Georgia is the country that both Armenia and Azerbaijan can rely on. We can provide both parties with all possible means to facilitate dialogue and cooperation in our region," she said.
Botchorishvili emphasized that the South Caucasus has great potential for developing various partnerships.
"The South Caucasus has immense potential for developing partnerships and fostering peace, security, stability, and economic cooperation. We must cooperate to identify common themes and issues. I believe it is important to start speaking openly about this—it is something we can already do at this stage," she concluded.
Will be updated