"I informed my colleague [the Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev] about the current status of the negotiating process on the normalization of relations. We are committed to normalization; after the end of the Second Karabakh War, it was Azerbaijan who proposed to begin work on a peace agreement. This work has almost been launched but things are not going as smoothly as we would like them to. However, there is no alternative here," he was quoted as saying on his website.
The Azerbaijani president stressed that relations between neighbors should be normal, "even despite the difficult history of 30 years of occupation and suffering experienced by the Azerbaijani people."
"In spite of this, we are looking towards the future and believe that we can reach a peace agreement on the basis of sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of borders, the United Nations Charter, all the fundamental norms and principles of international law to reach a peace treaty that will turn the page on years of hostility," he said.
The situation in Karabakh escalated on September 27, 2020. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on the full cessation of hostilities.
The sides stopped at their positions at that moment, a number of districts went under Baku’s control, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed at the contact line and at the so-called Lachin Corridor.
MNA/PR