Armenia needs to seriously commit to establishing peace with Azerbaijan: Pakistani experts

Azerbaijan has reflected its commitment and is ready to build peace in the region, and Armenia should do the same, Pakistani experts told Trend News Agency.

Citing a phone call between the foreign ministers of Baku and Yerevan, Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan, in which they discussed the details of agreements reached at a meeting in Brussels, including the establishment of a joint border commission and a working group to sign a possible peace treaty,  Pakistani specialists evaluated the process that followed the 2020 Karabakh War.

Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan took a significant step forward to establish peace and stability in the region, Pakistani political analyst Muhammad Asif Noor said.

Emphasizing that Azerbaijan's policy has never been based on hostility, and that the war it fought was imposed by Armenia, Noor, director of the Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies, said: "After the ceasefire, Azerbaijan has been busy restoring damaged infrastructure, which reflects Azerbaijan's desire to avoid conflict and promote peace. It reflects the attention and intentions of Azerbaijan as a peace-loving country.”

"In my opinion, much more seriousness and commitment is required from Armenia to advance the peace process, since Azerbaijan has reflected its commitment and is ready to build peace in the region," he added.

“It was certainly heartening to note that both countries were continuously keeping in touch to give peace a chance,” Tazeen Akhtar, editor of Pakistan in the World magazine, said as he analyzed the conversation for Trend.

Azerbaijan has always strived for peace and stability in the region, despite the fact that Armenia has continuously violated agreements in the past, Akhtar said, referring to historical events.

“For example, Armenia was supposed to share the mining maps of Azerbaijan’s liberated territories but deviated from its words. Later, Azerbaijan had to bear losses of precious lives even after the end of the war. Azerbaijan has always stood for peace with its neighbor, and the same is expected from Armenia in turn," he pointed out.

"Azerbaijan has always been sincere in its peace efforts, whether they be bilateral or international. This time, we hope that Armenia will also contribute to the establishment of peaceful relations between the two countries," he concluded, highlighting that the consensus between the countries’ foreign ministers signifies a light at the end of a dark tunnel.

Relations between the former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Upper Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

After new clashes erupted in September 2020, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and over 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia for almost 30 years.

The fighting ended in November 2020 with a deal brokered by Russia.