Baku, Yerevan are on threshold of peace: Azerbaijan FM
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Azerbaijan and Armenia for the first time after the restoration of their independence are on the threshold of peace, pledging to mutually respect sovereignty
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Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov looks on during the bilateral peace negotiation closing session with Armenia, in Arlington, Virginia, May 4, 2023 (AFP)
At a meeting of the OSCE (The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Permanent Council, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said Baku and Yerevan are "on the threshold of peace."
"The two countries [Azerbaijan and Armenia] for the first time after the restoration of their independence are on the threshold of peace, pledging to mutually respect sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders."
"Despite the suffering, deprivation, and destruction that the Azerbaijani people have undergone for many years, Azerbaijan is actively working to ensure a lasting peace with Armenia. There are opportunities and real prospects for establishing peace, strengthening stability, ensuring peaceful coexistence, advancing the peace agenda, investing in economic development and cooperation," Bayramov said.
Read more: Armenia agrees to hold talks with Azerbaijan in Moscow
Back in late May, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that Yerevan is willing to recognize all of Azerbaijan's sovereignty over all its territory including the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh.
"Those 86.6 thousand square kilometers also include Nagorno-Karabakh. But we also need to state that the issues of the rights and security of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians have to be discussed in the Baku-Stepanakert format," Pashinyan told a briefing.
Pashinyan said that he expects Baku to recognize Armenia's sovereign territory of 29.8 thousand square kilometers.
Pashinyan added that guarantees should be given for the safety of Armenians living in Karabakh: to ensure that no ethnic purges or genocide is perpetrated against them.
On his part, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that a peace treaty between the two countries was inevitable.
Read more: EU to host peace talks between Armenia, Azerbaijan: POLITICO
