Ilham Aliyev in Berlin: it is time to settle Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be resolved, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said, opening the German-Azerbaijani business forum together with the vice-chancellor of Germany, Sigmar Gabriel, the head of the European bureau of 'Vestnik Kavkaza', Orhan Sattarov, who was participating at the event, reported.

The forum was organized by the German-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany and the Eastern Committee of German Economy.

"Germany and Azerbaijan are good partners. We are cooperating in many areas. The stability and security are the most important things for our economy and for the further development of our country, as for any other country," Ilham Aliyev stressed.

"Azerbaijan has lived in peace for more than 20 years – after the agreement on ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia was reached in 1994, we have lived in peace. But this peace is very fragile, and recent developments on the contact line showed that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is not 'frozen', it is necessary to settle it. In early April, Armenia undertook a military provocation against Azerbaijan and we were forced to respond to protect our citizens – both civilians and our military. The fighting in April showed that Armenia is no longer able to control the situation and maintain the status quo," he said.

The head of the republic drew attention to the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "The OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries – the US, Russia and France – issued a joint statement saying that the status quo is unacceptable. Germany as the OSCE chairman also made a statement, the Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier clearly expressed position that the existing status quo is unacceptable. Changing the status quo means the beginning of de-occupation of the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan. The occupation of our land has been going on for 20 years, the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven neighboring districts are completely destroyed, there were subject to ethnic cleansings and all Azerbaijanis were expelled. 20% of our territory is under occupation and more than one million people became refugees and internally resettled persons," he reminded.

Also, Ilham Aliyev expressed concern that the international community does not pay enough attention to this problem. "The migration crisis has affected many European countries today, but imagine that at the very beginning of our independence, when we started building our state without any tested programs and methods, one million of our people had lost their homes. International organizations gave their assessment to those events and we are grateful for that: the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions obliging Armenia to withdraw its troops. But it has not done it, and, unfortunately, these organizations did not apply any instruments to force Armenia to implement the resolutions and did not impose sanctions against Armenia. We see this as a policy of double standards in action, because in some cases the UN Security Council's resolutions are carried out within a few days," the President of Azerbaijan stressed.

"As soon as the conflict is resolved with respect to the principles of the UN Charter, the UN Security Council's resolutions and the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, we will see stability and economic development in the South Caucasus," he concluded.

Then the head of the republic addressed the development of Azerbaijan. "Despite the heavy burden of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan has managed to develop successfully, and the country will be celebrating 25 years of independence this year," Aliyev said.

"Azerbaijan declared the 2016 the Year of Multiculturalism. Azerbaijan is an excellent example of peaceful coexistence of representatives of different nationalities and religions," the Azerbaijani President said.

During the last decade, the republic's economy has developed rapidly, but not only due to its oil industry. "Economic growth in Azerbaijan amounted to 300% in comparison with 2004. Our country managed to decrease the poverty and unemployment levels, which are both now around 5% both. Our economy has become competitive due to the investments to the non-oil sector, which became possible thanks to the oil export revenues. Today, Azerbaijan ranks 40th in the Global Competitiveness Index," Ilham Aliyev noted.

At the same time, the development of the energy sector does not lose its importance for the country. "Since 1994 Azerbaijan is implementing major energy projects. We have already built several gas pipelines, which allow us to export the gas to the neighboring countries — Georgia, Turkey, Russia and Iran — and now we are working with our partners to develop the Southern Gas Corridor project, launched in 2012 with the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) by Azerbaijan and Turkey," the head of the European bureau of 'Vestnik Kavkaza' cited him as saying.

The president said that the project's advantage is not only diversification of routes, but also diversification of sources.

"As far as the priority areas are concerned, today, above all, these are the agricultural sector and high technologies. As for the transport sector, now we are involved in a project for the restoration of the transport corridor 'Great Silk Way', as well as the Baku - Tbilisi - Kars railway project; it was launched jointly with Georgia and Turkey in 2007. The project is almost ready, and hopefully by the end of this year this route will be opened," the president of Azerbaijan said.

"The Baku - Tbilisi - Kars project could become the shortest route from Asia to Europe. I hope that German companies will be able to use this route. At the same time, we carry out the construction of the largest sea port on the Caspian Sea in the area close to Baku. We are also working on the transport corridor from south to north through the territory of Azerbaijan. As a result, Azerbaijan will become a geographic and logistic transport center of the region. Due to this we will not only develop the economy, but also strengthen cooperation and interdependence in the region. If we want to create a stable situation, we must act in the framework of international cooperation in the region and, most importantly, to develop interdependence.  For example, energy projects are built on interdependence: we depend on markets, markets depend on supplies," he noted.

"Today we see close cooperation of Azerbaijan with eight EU Member States; we signed and adopted the strategic partnership documents. Tourism is one of the potential areas for cooperation. Less than in two weeks the 2016 Formula 1 Grand Prix will be held in our country. Of course, this event will attract a lot of attention to our country: 500 million people will watch the race," Aliyev stressed.

He also spoke about the German-Azerbaijani business contacts. "I want to emphasize that 1069 German companies are operating in Azerbaijan, and I would like to see more representatives of German business in our country. We would also like to see more German investors. Germany is one of the leaders in Europe, one of the largest economies in the world and we certainly look forward to a fruitful cooperation. I wish you success and fruitful work at the forum. Thank you!" the President of Azerbaijan concluded.