NEWTIMES

Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan is paying a working visit to Russia today. He will reportedly discuss the situation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, the details are not known to the public.

Today we are offered the chance for stability – with mutual prosperity as corollary. We have the opportunity to know one another, to grow safer and prosper together. Eventually, all of these confidence-building measures may lead us to an ultimate peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But instead of peace and cooperation, seeking revanchism could bring another disaster and tragedy. In Azerbaijan we have always believed that should Armenia pursue peaceful policies with its neighbors, then it can and must benefit from regional cooperation. So, we say, let's transform the South Caucasus for better, and in peace.

The Second Karabakh War (September 27 – November 10, 2020) between Armenia and Azerbaijan lasted 44 days, but it caused overwhelming changes in the politics of the South Caucasus that will shape the future of the region in the months and years to come. Not only has the war ended the three decades old occupation of the twenty percent of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia but alsobroughtTurkey as a counterbalancing force into the region that was traditionally under Russia's political dominance.

The Zangezur corridor can boost the development of transport links within the Turkic Council

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Turkey at a critical time for his country. He discussed the defense sector, free trade agreement, and tourism issues at the 9th meeting of the Turkey-Ukraine High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council held on April 10. By the way, the Turkish President visited Kyiv to participate in the 8th meeting of the Turkey-Ukraine High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council held in February 2020. Official Ankara has repeatedly stated that the ensuring and inviolability of the territorial integrity of states are among the key priorities for them. Turkey protects this idea about all countries, including its neighbors Syria, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and others. Official Ankara's relations with Ukraine are based on these principles.

US President Joseph Biden has addressed a congratulatory letter to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the Novruz holiday. It marked the first official contact between the heads of the two states. In his letter, the US President stressed that Azerbaijan is among the key actors in the region.

The former conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus was the main threat to regional security and economic integration. The second Karabakh war which started on 27 September 2020 was a full-scale war. It is very important to highlight that long-lasting Minsk Group-mediated diplomatic talks were resultless. In addition, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's position, when he called into question the "Madrid Principles", led the peace process to a deadlock in which the only way for Azerbaijan to restore its territorial integrity, was successful military operations.

It goes without saying that the use of natural gas will play an important role in the coming years.

The history of international conflicts is regrettably littered with missed opportunities for peace. Rather than accomplishing its aim of charting a peaceful roadmap for postwar Europe, the February 1945 Yalta Conference paved the way for the Cold War by dividing Germany into four occupation zones administered by U.S., British, French and Soviet forces. Now, there exists a fresh opportunity to forge a lasting peace and to extinguish a lingering conflict in the South Caucasus region, where processes of normalization and economic integration are underway in the aftermath of last fall's six-week war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The crushing victory gained by Azerbaijan in the 44-day war will undoubtedly become the subject of scrupulous studies. But it is already obvious that the main factor which determined our triumph was the unity of the people and the authorities, the consistent policy pursued by President Ilham Aliyev.