“We Call on the Armenian Political Leadership to Take the Main Step,” Hajiyev

The assistant to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Hikmet Hajiyev, has announced that the country’s leadership expects to sign a peace agreement with Armenia by the end of this year. He stated that Baku intends to resolve all disputes with Yerevan exclusively through peaceful means. This was reported by kommersant.ru.

“We hope that the peace agreement will be signed by the end of this year, and we call on the Armenian political leadership to take the main step—officially, with its signature under the peace agreement, to acknowledge the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, including our Republic’s Nagorno-Karabakh economic region,” Hajiyev said in an interview with TASS.

According to Hajiyev, Azerbaijan intends to independently protect the rights of the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, as they live in the country’s internationally recognized territory. Commenting on the potential compromises that Baku is willing to pursue during the dialogue with Yerevan, Hajiyev noted that the Azerbaijani side will not discuss “issues that call into question Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty with either Armenia or any third country.”

It should be noted that the Azerbaijani government often violates the rights of even Azerbaijanis; therefore, discussions about protecting the rights of the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan cannot be taken seriously.