BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 12. Historic opportunities for peace have emerged in the region after the liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, the country's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said during a panel discussion on "Challenges and Opportunities for Regional Cooperation in the South Caucasus" within the framework of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Trend reports.
"Immediately after the end of the 44-day Second Karabakh War and the liberation of the previously occupied territories of Azerbaijan, a historic opportunity for normalization arose. Shortly after that, Azerbaijan proposed to Armenia to start the process of normalization and start talking about a peace agreement. Azerbaijan proposed this. We started physical negotiations with the Armenian side, you know, there were many rounds of negotiations. Last month, the parties made extremely important progress after almost two and a half years and agreed on the text of the peace agreement, which we consider a serious milestone," he said.
According to him, there are further steps that are necessary for the full conclusion of this process, for the signing of a peace agreement.
"This is still a long-standing and consistent position of Azerbaijan, and our partners in Armenia are well aware of this. This is, first of all, the abolition of the outdated and dysfunctional Minsk Group. Secondly, the elimination of territorial claims against Azerbaijan from the constitution. Therefore, we believe that after these necessary steps are taken, there will be no additional obstacles to the conclusion and signing of an agreement on the establishment of peace and interstate relations between the two countries," he emphasized.