Baku, Yerevan and example for world: reflections on eve of September 27

The Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia were invited to the annual Transatlantic Dinner held on September 24 in New York. At a dinner held for the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of NATO member countries, as well as specially invited guests.

Let's not pretentiously say that this is a great honor for Baku and Yerevan and the like. But this invitation shows that the status of our two countries has increased significantly. First of all, we should talk about the status of Azerbaijan, because it is thanks to its peaceful policy and its goodwill that relations between the former occupier and the country that won the war have become the way we see them today. 

The event was hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. His photo with Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan is actively spreading on social networks. The Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia were invited to demonstrate President Donald Trump's successful conflict resolution policy. During the dinner, Rubio, in particular, noted the achievements of the US President in moving Armenia and Azerbaijan towards long-term peace.

Without at all begging for the merits of the American leader, we note that the main merit in activating the peace process belongs to Baku. Azerbaijan could continue to take revenge on the aggressor, prevent him from getting out of isolation and demand compensation for the damage caused by the occupation. And he would be absolutely right from the point of view of international law. However, the wisdom, humanity and foresight of the Azerbaijani leadership suggested a different path. Let's not forget that Baku was the first to propose peace to Yerevan. Of course, it is impossible not to mention the merit of the current leadership of Armenia, who has shown prudence and really cares about the preservation of the Armenian statehood.

In this case, Baku and Yerevan have shown everyone an example that there are no unsolvable issues if the parties really want to achieve peace. Unfortunately, in order to force the enemy to come to an understanding of this truth, sacrifices had to be made, but our efforts were not in vain. Before our eyes, the South Caucasus is turning into one of the most stable regions in the world. This is an unprecedented situation when two countries, which have been in a state of acute hostility for thirty years, found a common language so quickly. And this was done not under pressure from anyone, not as a result of decisions of international authorities. Azerbaijan and Armenia were able to reach an agreement in the interests of their countries and peoples, as well as the entire region. And those who say that we simply have nothing to share are very mistaken.

Those who say this are obviously completely off topic. Today, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the 44-day Patriotic War of liberation, it's time to talk about this.

The Armenian occupation caused tens of billions of dollars in damage to Azerbaijan, 20 percent of the republic's territories were reduced to ruins and a scorched desert covered with hundreds of thousands of mines. The ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis in Armenia and in the occupied lands led to a humanitarian catastrophe in Azerbaijan. We are not talking about the crimes against humanity committed by the occupiers on our lands. The damage caused by the Karabakh conflict to Azerbaijan is enormous, and any other state, having liberated its lands, would try to take the occupier by the throat. However, this would mean continued confrontation, continued tension, and vague prospects that could be overshadowed by a new war at any moment.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, as a wise politician and diplomat, decided to act differently.

"Immediately after the victorious war, Azerbaijan declared its readiness to open a new page in relations with Armenia based on mutual recognition of territorial integrity and sovereignty. We have put forward five fundamental principles based on international law and submitted a draft peace treaty. Then, on our initiative, the negotiation process on the text of the draft began, which lasted from October 2022 to summer 2025. Despite various provocations, the negotiations yielded positive results, as they were conducted exclusively on a bilateral basis without any outside interference," the Azerbaijani leader said, speaking from the rostrum of the UN General Assembly on the eve.

The proposal to sign a peace treaty was a key and unexpected step for Baku. It would seem that it is not for the Azerbaijani side to take the first step in such a situation. Azerbaijan could write off Armenia, close its borders tightly, without incurring any economic damage. During the years of occupation, our country has learned to live in extreme conditions, put the army and economy on their feet, built pipelines and roads to Europe bypassing an aggressive neighbor. But the Azerbaijani leader reasoned differently. That's what the strong do. Strength, if it is real, implies nobility and the ability to be the first to reach out to a defeated opponent. This does not mean weakness and humiliation of national dignity, as some initially thought. This is precisely a demonstration of real strength.

Peace and cooperation will ultimately bring Azerbaijan much greater dividends than those that would be obtained from achieving justice in international institutions. Peace is a perspective free from threats and risks, it is an opportunity to keep the situation under control not by military, but by economic levers, it is confidence in the future. In addition, peace will make the region strong and allow it to free itself from external interference. Destabilization and tension fed external interests, and Baku decided to rid the South Caucasus of this obsessive attention. He succeeded. Due to the fact that the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia loudly and categorically announced their intention to resolve all issues only on a bilateral basis, other players had to move away and observe from there.

It just so happens that the United States is the only party that is absolutely not interested in a new destabilization in the South Caucasus. To clarify, this turned out to be the United States under Donald Trump. The previous leadership of the leading world power pursued a strange, illogical and disorderly policy towards our region. One can recall more than one case when, under pressure from the American Armenians, unreasonable statements were made against Azerbaijan from overseas, which the administration later tried to smooth over and justify. In fact, the White House has never had such interests in this part of the world that would require making a choice between Azerbaijan and Armenia. But the previous administration's bias and dependence on the Armenian diaspora did their job, and relations between Baku and Washington collapsed to the lowest level in their entire history.

No, it was not Donald Trump who stopped the Karabakh conflict and brought peace to Azerbaijanis and Armenians. But the US President has a very important mission in this case. By taking the process under his auspices, he protected Yerevan from pressure from unscrupulous guardians. If it were not for this pressure, mutual understanding could have been reached two or three years ago. In addition, as a successful entrepreneur, the American leader was able to see serious benefits in the project of communications through Zangezur. This issue has been a stumbling block in advancing the peace process. Now the issue is finally being resolved. Whatever the name of the project, its essence remains the one that was laid down by the Azerbaijani side. This is the Zangezur corridor. Azerbaijan will not find fault with the details, and we do not mind at all that, in gratitude for the assistance of the US President, the road should be called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. Peace and prosperity are exactly the goals that Baku set when conceiving the project. Not expansion, not annexation, but the interests of good-neighborly cooperation and economic benefits for all.

Participation in the Trump case will also help Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan get rid of accusations of dancing to the "Baku tune." In addition, American investments are appearing in the project, and Yerevan will no longer have to run in search of financing - the United States will allocate 145 million dollars for the project. The road is small, only 40 kilometers, but Armenia, squeezed out by thirty years of occupation of its neighbor's territories and, as a result, isolation, does not even have these funds.

The American leader is behaving in a businesslike manner. Politics is in tenth place in his mediation, and in the first nine is that the parties, and the States, of course, benefit from peace in the South Caucasus in material terms. This position appeals to Baku, which has always sought to ensure that parties who mediate or wish to mediate between it and Yerevan maintain a political distance.

Today we can state that everything is going as Baku intended. The processes are developing according to the logic that meets the interests of Azerbaijan. And we don't mind at all if Armenia and someone else also benefit from these positive steps. In the end, everything Azerbaijan does is beneficial. Because the country is following the path set by President Ilham Aliyev, who said: "The protection of national interests is a fundamental factor in Azerbaijan's policy, but apart from the regional or global context, this factor cannot be greatly abused. You should always try to look at the situation through the prism of your neighbor. Then a lot becomes clear, then a lot that could lead to some kind of misunderstanding is regulated quite effectively."