It's Time for Yerevan to Officially Acknowledge Azerbaijan's Territorial Integrity, Says Bayramov

"Now is the time for Armenia to confirm what has been said verbally with an official signature," stated Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov during an official visit to Hungary. He made these remarks in an interview with the Azerbaijani state news agency AZERTAC and the Hungarian publication Magyar Demokrata.

When asked about the current state of post-war resolution in the South Caucasus region, Bayramov emphasized Azerbaijan's stance: to leave past hostilities behind and usher in a new era in the relationship between the two countries, based on principles of international law such as respect for territorial integrity, sovereignty, and inviolability of borders.

“After the war, it took Armenia two and a half years for its Prime Minister to finally, albeit only verbally, recognize Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, including Nagorno-Karabakh. Now is the time to formalize what has been said verbally with an official signature,” Bayramov remarked.

Speaking about the “reintegration” of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, he stated that “some representatives of the Armenians are doing everything to prevent opportunities and cut off the threads that could be directly or indirectly seen as the first steps in the process of ‘reintegration’ of the Armenian population.”

“We continue to consider the ethnic Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh as ‘our citizens,’” he added.

On the topic of dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert, Bayramov noted: “It was important for us that the process continued, and in this regard, Baku showed goodwill and an open position for dialogue. This is the only way forward. The only way is through dialogue and discussing the future within Azerbaijan. There is simply no other option, as everything else is illegal. This is our red line: there will be no grey zones in the territory of Azerbaijan.”