Hikmet Hajiyev: Azerbaijan has proven its commitment to the peace process with Armenia
Azerbaijan and Armenia have reached the final stage in the process of normalizing relations, and the text of the peace agreement has already been finally agreed upon and initialed.
This was stated by Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration, in an interview with the Turkish publication Milliyet.
Commenting on the dynamics of the negotiations, Hajiyev noted that thanks to Azerbaijan's initiative, the key agreements were reached in record time — in the period from 2023 to 2025.
"In Brussels and other European capitals, they like to talk about peace. But let us recall history: France and Germany signed the Élysée Treaty only in 1963 — 18 years after the end of the Second World War. We, however, arrived at a peace agreement in just two years, demonstrating a sincere disposition toward peace despite the difficult legacy of the past," the representative of the Presidential Administration emphasized.
Hikmet Hajiyev positively assessed the current Armenian leadership's promotion of the concept of a "real Armenia." At the same time, he pointed out that the main condition for the final signing of the document remains the enshrinement of this approach in the neighboring country's new constitution:
"After the completion of the parliamentary elections in Armenia and their adoption of a new constitution, there will be no legal or political obstacles left to signing the treaty. We do not intend to interfere in Yerevan's internal affairs. Our goal is to bring both the Azerbaijani-Armenian and the Turkish-Armenian normalization processes to a conclusion in parallel and effectively."
Touching upon the topic of regional communications, the Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan emphasized that the opening of the Zangezur corridor serves the interests not only of Baku and Ankara, but also of Yerevan itself, which has realized the harmfulness of many years of self-isolation.
Hajiyev also commented on the agreements between the United States and Armenia on the TRIPP infrastructure project.
"According to information received from the American side, the feasibility study for this project will be fully completed as early as this summer, after which the active construction phase will begin. Azerbaijan and Turkey have already created a self-sufficient and extensive logistics network — the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway and the TANAP and TAP gas pipelines are functioning successfully. If Armenia seeks to become part of this global infrastructure, we welcome this step."
