On 20 May, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev participated at a video conference entitled “The South Caucasus: Regional Development and Prospective for Cooperation” where he addressed a variety of issues including Azerbaijan-Armenia relations, as well as the engagement of the US, EU, and other powers in the region after the Second Karabakh War. 

“Due to the fact of occupation which lasted almost 30 years, Azerbaijan openly declared its position that we will not cooperate with Armenia until the territories are liberated. I think that Armenia itself now understands that they made a very big mistake, because they lost time. If we look at today’s situation in Armenia, we will see that the situation is much worse than when Armenia became an independent country. Because today Armenia doesn’t have an army. There is a big degree of mistrust in society, mutual accusations and some political leaders’ rhetoric is beyond any acceptable framework. So, they lost time, they were deprived of the initiatives of Azerbaijan with respect to energy and transportation development and finally they lost the territories which they occupied and the territories which never belonged to them neither by history nor by international law,” Aliyev emphasised on the internal situation in Armenia.

“Despite 30 years of occupation and large-scale destruction and devastation on the liberated territories, Azerbaijan is ready to look to the future, to plan its future as a part of the integrated region of the South Caucasus. We hope that the time will come that we will really talk about active cooperation in the South Caucasus and integration. Therefore, I would like to say that Azerbaijan is open for cooperation, open for planning our common future, because we are neighbours whether we like it or not. We have to live side by side, and we need to learn once again how to live side by side. It’s not easy, emotions are here, especially when Azerbaijani people visit liberated territories and see total destruction you can imagine what kind of emotions they have. But the role of politicians is to defend their agenda and to explain that only through interaction we can provide sustainable development and peace and security in the region,” he underscored.

Aliyev also spoke on the role of the EU, US and China following the conflict. “The EU can play an important role in the development of regional cooperation in the post-conflict period and we would like to cooperate more actively,” he noted. China’s role in the region was mostly highlighted in the economic field. “Chinese companies are closely involved in the restoration work in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan. There are wide opportunities for cooperation with China in the field of transport,” Aliyev stated.

Regarding the US, Aliyev expressed his beliefs that the country would be more engaged in the political dialogue, as well as bilateral cooperation with Azerbaijan. “The US may give its contribution to the normalisation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. I have mentioned in a meeting with the Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group that I expect new proposals from them. That is why, I think that currently, this organisation is looking for new proposals. New proposals can be put forward for the normalisation of the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and for the people of both countries to live together,” he said. Aliyev also emphasised that he would like to see that Azerbaijan-US relations expand beyond the field of energy and include other fields of cooperation, naming the defence industry as an example.