Joint press conference of Azerbaijan’s President and German Chancellor

On March 14, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Olaf Scholtz held a joint press conference.

Firstly German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz made a statement to the press.

Chancellor Olaf Scholtz statement

Dear ladies and gentlemen.
Today, I warmly welcome the President of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev in Berlin. We have just had an excellent exchange of ideas on how to deepen our bilateral cooperation. Last year, we also celebrated the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries. Azerbaijan and the European Union want to cooperate more closely within the framework of the Eastern Partnership. How is this possible and mainly taking into account our bilateral economic relations, we also discussed this question within the framework of the meeting.

Azerbaijan is an increasingly important partner for both Germany and the European Union. The country has great potential for energy supply to both Germany and the European Union, Azerbaijan can contribute, and at the same time, renewable energy is also a subject of our cooperation.

Mr. President Aliyev and I also exchanged views on Russia’s attack on Ukraine. We also exchanged views on the impact of this attack and this war on Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus. I have clearly stated our position. In our opinion, Russia’s war of aggression clearly violates international law. This war of aggression of Russia marks the beginning of a new era, so to speak, from a geopolitical point of view.

It is important for us that the long-term conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia should be resolved peacefully. Frankly, Germany is a little worried about the unstable situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Of course, there is a danger of increasing tension here, and the events of the last months and weeks have made it obvious. Our wish is that this conflict will find a long-term and acceptable solution on the spot in a short time. When we say a peaceful solution here, of course, we mean that the territorial integrity of both Azerbaijan and Armenia is ensured. At the same time, the human rights and freedoms of the people of both countries must be protected and must be in accordance with international law. Of course, Germany is ready to show its support here. As you know, Mr. Aliyev and I are of the same opinion that this conflict should be resolved as soon as possible. Azerbaijan and Germany are members of the Council of Europe. With this membership, we have committed ourselves to protect people’s rights, democracy, and legal statehood. We believe that an integral part of democracy is a vibrant civil society. Because every society can only benefit from a vibrant civil society.

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

I was pleased to have such a positive conversation in these difficult times. We decided to stay in close contact with Mr. President and continue our cooperation. Please come Mr. President.

Then the President of Azerbaijan made a statement to the press.

President Ilham Aliyev statement

Thank you, Mr. Chancellor.

Dear ladies and gentlemen.

First of all, Mr. Chancellor, I want to thank you for the invitation and hospitality. The talks we conducted during the visit once again show that the German-Azerbaijani relations are at a high level. Political dialogue is held regularly and I am sure that my visit will make a great contribution to our bilateral relations.
As you mentioned, many issues were discussed today, including European Union-Azerbaijan relations. Very important steps are being taken in this direction. In particular, the memorandum of understanding on strategic partnership on energy security signed between the European Union and Azerbaijan last year shows our intention. The execution and speedy execution of the memorandum, timely execution once again shows that Azerbaijan is a reliable partner for Europe.

We are increasing our gas exports to Europe. If we exported 8 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe in 2021, this year this figure will reach approximately 12 billion cubic meters. This is half of our total exports, and we would like to expand our export geography in Europe in the coming years.

Yesterday I had a meeting with about 30 German businessmen. In this meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, I witnessed the great attention paid by German business to Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan’s economy, and opportunities. In addition, there are great opportunities in the direction of joint development and exploitation of renewable energy types, and we exchanged views on this today. Azerbaijan has a very large renewable energy potential. The wind energy potential of the Caspian Sea alone is equal to 157 gigawatts, and several contracts have already been signed. I am sure that in the future, Azerbaijan will become a country that exports not only natural gas, but also green energy to Europe.

Overall, the business opportunities are very wide. I invited German businessmen to Azerbaijan to come and closely examine future business opportunities during contacts with our relevant institutions.

As Mr. Chancellor said, we also discussed regional security issues. I stated Azerbaijan’s position regarding the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process. I want German press representatives to know that Azerbaijan has been under Armenian occupation for nearly 30 years. As a result of this occupation and ethnic cleansing, nearly 20 percent of our lands were occupied, and one million Azerbaijanis were expelled from their native land by Armenia and became refugees. Two and a half years ago, as a result of the Patriotic War, we restored our dignity, territorial integrity and rights on the battlefield, defeated Armenia and forced Armenia to leave our lands. Thus,I must also state that, unfortunately, the leadership of Armenia, which once recognized Karabakh as Armenia, has lost its chance for peace. In 2019, today’s prime minister of Armenia said that “Karabakh is Armenia and the point” and this was actually the biggest blow to the peace talks. During the 44-day Patriotic War, we proved that Karabakh is Azerbaijan and the exclamation point. We put this exclamation mark on November 8, 2020 in Shusha.

Now is the time for peace. We have proposed peace to Armenia, we have proposed a peace treaty based on 5 principles. I hope that Armenia will not miss this chance, and finally, the era of peace and cooperation will begin in the South Caucasus.

Thank you.