ISTANBUL: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Wednesday that the process of delimitation concerning the country’s Gazakh-Tovuz Economic Region will be discussed with Armenia at an upcoming meeting of commissions responsible for the matter.
‘The next meeting of the commissions is scheduled for this month, and this issue is on the agenda: the delimitation issue of that region, the Gazakh-Tovuz region,’ Aliyev said during an interview with local television channels.
He said the issue of eight villages still under Armenian occupation is always on the agenda in talks between the two countries.
‘This issue was discussed during my contacts with the prime minister of Armenia (Nikol Pashinyan), including the last conversation in St. Petersburg. I raised this issue, and this issue is also on the agenda of commissions dealing with delimitation.’
Aliyev said that Azerbaijan must fully restore its territorial integrity and sovereignty, adding they must solve this issue ‘once and for all’ and there should not be ‘a
single nest of separatism’ anywhere in the country.
He later denied the need for guarantors, which he said is being sought by Armenia, expressing that the peace treaty needs to be signed at the bilateral level but that they don’t mind if a third country expresses the desire to help.
‘However, this help should not be mandatory,’ he added.
Stressing that it is impossible to talk to them in ‘a language of threats or arrogance,’ Aliyev said efforts to arm Armenia are aimed at keeping Azerbaijan ‘under constant pressure’ and that France is at the forefront of such efforts.
‘France is the country that arms Armenia, gives them support, trains their soldiers and prepares them for another war. When I said that France’s policy is causing tensions in the Caucasus, this is exactly what I meant,’ he said.
Aliyev further touched on the movement of cargo and citizens within Azerbaijan, indicating that it should take ‘place freely without undergoing any inspection.’
‘Otherwise, Armenia will remain in an eternal deadloc
k, and if the (Zangezur) route I mentioned is not opened, we are not going to open our border with Armenia anywhere else. So they will do themselves more harm than good,’ he said.
Aliyev went on to say that infrastructure projects in the Karabakh region give them the opportunity to return internally displaced peoples (IDPs) to their ancestral lands, adding that they plan on the return of Azerbaijani IDPs to the cities of Shusha, Jabrayil, Kalbajar, Khankendi and Khojaly in 2024.
‘Former IDPs are expected to return to the cities of Aghdam, Zangilan and Gubadli in 2025,’ he added.
Source: Anadolu Agency