Azerbaijan, Armenia agree to ‘close chapter’ on conflict—Aliyev

(MENAFN) Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says that leaders from Azerbaijan and Armenia have jointly decided to bring an end to their long-standing conflict, according to statements made Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“It was a joint decision by (the) Armenian and Azerbaijani leadership to close that chapter (of war) and to see the opportunities for peace,” Aliyev tells a panel session also attended by Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan.

During the discussion, Aliyev criticizes international organizations for their failure to resolve the decades-long dispute between the two countries. He notes that numerous resolutions, including those by the UN Security Council and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), “did not materialize until we took (the) situation into our hands, and we did it. We restored justice, international law, our sovereignty, territorial integrity, and then we achieved peace.”

Speaking on regional economic cooperation, Aliyev highlights that Azerbaijan has begun trade and transit initiatives with Armenia following the establishment of peace.

“Azerbaijan lifted all the restrictions on (the) transportation of cargoes to Armenia from Kazakhstan, from Russia, and now we got a request from (the) Armenian side to provide transit from Armenia to Russia,” he says.

He adds that while goods currently pass through neighboring Georgia, “one day it will go through Armenia. One day Armenia will go directly through Azerbaijan, and that day is not too far away.”

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