There are no obstacles to achieving peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said during his speech at the opening of the 10th Global Baku Forum themed “The World of Today: Challenges and Hopes”.
He reclled that Azerbaijan was trying hard to resolve the conflict with Armenia by peaceful means, despite the fact that Armenia conducted the policy of ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis and expelled them from Karabakh and created sufferings for a million Azerbaijan.
The head of state noted the destruction in occupied terrotories is the sign of barbarism, it is urbicide, culturocide, ecocide. "And that was done by our neighbors. People of Azerbaijan have a moral right to demand revenge. But my message is that we took revenge on the battlefield. We did not commit any war crimes, unlike Armenians. We did not commit genocide, unlike Armenians did to us. And we took revenge on the battlefield. So, now it's time for peace," he said.
According to him, right after the war ended in November 2020, Azerbaijan launched an initiative to start peaceful negotiations and presented the famous five principles, which could be a basis for peace agreement with Armenia.
“We hope that international actors, which try to facilitate will persuade Armenia not to lose this chance. They lost the chance to become an independent country. They become totally dependent, kind of a colony of other country, and now maybe other countries. So, they lost their chance to become really independent and to build their future, because of aggression against us,” the head of state emphasized.
"We want peace. We don't want another war," the Azerbaijani leader stressed.
Ilham Aliyev recalled that Azerbaijan is a multiconfessional, multi-ethnic country, the rights of minorities in Azerbaijan are protected by Constitution.
"Azerbaijan is a country with a high-level of religious and ethnic tolerance, where representatives of different ethnic groups, different confessions live in peace and dignity. So, I'm sure that the life of Armenians who live in Karabakh region of Azerbaijan will be much better than it was during the times of occupation," the gead of state said.
