Antalya, Türkiye, April 12. A panel discussion
on “Challenges and Opportunities for Regional Cooperation in the
South Caucasus” is currently underway within the framework of the
Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Trend reports.
The panel is attended by Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun
Bayramov, Georgia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Maka
Botchorishvili, and Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.
In his remarks, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov
highlighted that the liberation of Azerbaijan’s occupied
territories has created historic opportunities for peace in the
region.
“Immediately after the end of the 44-day Patriotic War and the
liberation of the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, historic
opportunities for normalization emerged. Soon after, Azerbaijan
proposed to Armenia to begin the normalization process and
negotiations for a peace agreement. Azerbaijan initiated this
process, and numerous rounds of talks followed. Last month, the
parties made significant progress after nearly two and a half years
and agreed on a text for the peace agreement, which we consider a
major step forward,” he stated.
Bayramov stressed that further steps are needed to finalize the
peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“There are additional steps that must be taken to complete this
process and sign the peace agreement. This has been Azerbaijan’s
long-standing and consistent position, which is well known in
Armenia. First and foremost, the outdated and non-functional Minsk
Group must be dissolved. Secondly, Armenia must remove territorial
claims against Azerbaijan from its Constitution. We believe that
once these necessary steps are taken, there will be no further
obstacles to concluding and signing an agreement for peace and
interstate relations between the two countries,” he added.
Bayramov also pointed out that Azerbaijan’s Constitution does
not include any references to geographical names or territories of
modern Armenia.
“Regarding the statements made by Armenian Foreign Minister
Ararat Mirzoyan about concerns over the provisions of Azerbaijan’s
Constitution, they are not true. There are no references to
geographical names or territories of the modern Republic of Armenia
in Azerbaijan’s Constitution. I believe our Armenian colleagues are
well aware of this; otherwise, they would have raised this issue.
As is known, the legal systems of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and
other countries are generally similar. International agreements
cannot be concluded if their provisions contradict the Constitution
of a country,” he said.
Georgia’s Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili expressed that
Georgia is sincerely interested in promoting peace and stability in
the region.
“We have a strategic partnership with Azerbaijan, based on
friendship and very good cooperation, which is a strong asset in
our region. We also traditionally have very good relations with
Armenia, which have recently been upgraded to a strategic
partnership. We are genuinely interested in fostering peace and
stability in our region. Therefore, we always say, and I repeat
from here, that Georgia is the country that both Armenia and
Azerbaijan can rely on. We can provide both parties with all
possible means to facilitate dialogue and cooperation in our
region,” she said.
Botchorishvili emphasized that the South Caucasus has great
potential for developing various partnerships.
“The South Caucasus has immense potential for developing
partnerships and fostering peace, security, stability, and economic
cooperation. We must cooperate with each other to identify common
themes and issues. I believe it is important to start speaking
openly about this—it is something we can already do at this stage,”
she concluded.
Will be updated
13:33
A panel discussion on “Challenges and Opportunities for Regional
Cooperation in the South Caucasus” is currently underway within the
framework of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Trend reports.
The panel is attended by Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun
Bayramov, Georgia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Maka
Botchorishvili, and Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.
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