Presidents of Azerbaijan and Germany Press Conference

On April 2, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier made statements to the press and answered journalists’ questions.

According to the News Hub Consultants, AZERTAC reports that first the President of Azerbaijan made a statement.

President Ilham Aliyev

statement

– Dear Mr. President.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

First of all, Mr. President, I would like to once again sincerely greet you, welcome to Azerbaijan. I am glad that political dialogue is being conducted regularly between us. I met you last April during my visit to Berlin, and I am glad that you accepted my invitation and came to Azerbaijan on an official visit.

Both during the one-on-one meeting and during the talks with the participation of delegations, the future development of German-Azerbaijani relations was discussed. I am absolutely sure that this visit will give a new positive impetus to our relations. The results achieved in the economic sphere naturally inspire us. Because in January-February of this year, our trade turnover increased by almost three times. The main reason for this was the increase in the volume of crude oil exported from Azerbaijan to Germany. Therefore, we believe that in the coming years we should take more active steps to diversify our trade turnover, especially in the field of renewable energy – where German companies have great experience, and Azerbaijan also has a very large program and plans. We intend to increase the production capacity of renewable energy types to 6 gigawatts by 2030, thanks to the investment of foreign investors, and this is quite realistic, part of which will be exported to Europe.

As you know, last year Azerbaijan hosted the COP29 international climate conference. We have had very active cooperation with Germany in this direction as well. More than 77 thousand participants representing 197 countries were registered for COP29, and this conference was rich in great, successful results. The only country that did not participate was Armenia. This naturally causes regret. Because, especially in the current circumstances – at a time when the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia is successfully underway – it was incomprehensible for the Armenian side to boycott this international conference. Today, this issue was also discussed and Azerbaijan’s position was conveyed to the German side.

Azerbaijan has suffered from Armenian occupation for 30 years. Our people have been subjected to ethnic cleansing. One million Azerbaijanis have been left homeless due to Armenian aggression, and approximately 20 percent of our lands have been occupied. Unfortunately, international organizations have not taken serious steps on this issue. Azerbaijan itself resolved this conflict and international law on the battlefield and at the political level. It was this historic Victory of ours that paved the way for peace negotiations. I believe that today the positions of Azerbaijan and Armenia in achieving peace have become quite close to each other.

At the same time, other international issues were also discussed today, including US-EU tensions, Russia-West tensions. All of these issues naturally affect the entire world, and it was very important for me to have a frank exchange of views.

I want to say again that I am sure that this visit will have very positive results. This is the first official visit of the President of Germany to Azerbaijan in the history of our bilateral relations. I am sure that the results of the visit will bring our countries closer together.

Welcome again.

Then the German President made a statement.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier

statement

– My dear colleague, Mr. President, I would like to thank you very much for this sincere invitation and on behalf of the entire German delegation for your hospitality. We are enjoying it very much here. You said that this is not my first time in Azerbaijan, but my first time in this capacity. This is my first time as President. I have been to Azerbaijan many times before. But the last time was in 2016, and nine years have passed. Now the situation in the world is changing so quickly, geopolitically so many changes have occurred in 9 years that my visit here in 2016 seems like a long time ago to me. That is why I am glad that we came and met again today and were able to have a very broad exchange of views. We have always had this exchange. Although not in Baku, we have met in other places, we have talked on the phone. In the meantime, we met at the Munich Security Conference, and I also remember your visit to Berlin well. We had discussions at this meeting that took place last year, and I am glad that I am now visiting your country in return for your visit.

Mr. President, we have talked about the history of relations between our countries. We can recall the first settlement of Swabian peasants here – in Azerbaijan – and the creation of winemaking traditions. They participated in the development of agriculture. Of course, they also had a significant role in industrialization. German organizations, large companies participated in the development of this industry, in copper mining, in the construction of an electricity grid. Many Germans lived in Azerbaijan. Therefore, I remind you that it is important to know the long history of our relations, that these relations between Germany and Azerbaijan have existed for a long time. I am very glad that there is great interest in the German language and education in Germany in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani youth are very interested in studying in Germany, and I believe that we should expand our relations precisely in the field of scientific cooperation.

I am very pleased with this exchange. I am glad that we have always been able to speak openly with each other. We have been able to speak openly both on issues where we agree and on issues where we have different positions, and in our extensive conversations, both sides have been able to speak openly with each other and have a sincere conversation. We live in a world where dramatic changes are taking place very quickly. Mr. President has already said what unites our countries. What also unites us is that we are interested in preserving international law and order, in the world being governed by rules, and we do not want to leave a world without rules to future generations.

We also discussed strategic issues for us. We discussed our economic cooperation prospects. You have already said and mentioned several aspects that Azerbaijan also has a great role for Germany in 2022. When the gas supply we usually receive from Russia began to be disrupted, Azerbaijan took on a lot of responsibility here, and I am very grateful for that. Therefore, I understood from your words that, in addition to gas, there is a need to expand the infrastructure here. Therefore, we need to work on improving the infrastructure. This is not enough yet. Therefore, after these meetings, we also have new homework.

I am very glad that Azerbaijan is developing and becoming a place where very important trade routes pass through, which can lead to the unification of the world. We talked about our economic and trade relations. Your country has a role in our trade relations not only with Central Asia, but also with the Far East, or with Southwest Asia, with China. We know that the possibilities of the existing roads are currently limited. The role of the roads passing through your country, the Central Corridor, is also important for the German economy, it is a good prospect, and this will become an even more interesting prospect. Your region – the South Caucasus, after becoming a more stable region, will become a more stable region, unlike the relations in recent years. With this, Mr. President, I would like to express my opinion on an issue you touched on. You spoke about peaceful relations between Azerbaijan and neighboring Armenia. This peace process is of great importance. As someone observing this from the outside, I can say that it impresses us very much. That is, over the past year, very big steps have been taken, very big progress has been made. I congratulate both sides on this occasion that an agreement has already been reached. On March 13, a statement was made on the agreement on the text of this peace agreement. When I spoke about this agreement this morning, I told Mr. President that I hope that an important moment has been reached with this agreement. Since this agreement has been reached, I hope that this situation will be maintained and, using this, will soon lead to the signing of a peace agreement and a real lasting peace will be established in your region. I have great hope for this and I urge you not to lose this moment. Despite all the difficulties and obstacles, this path has been traveled, many steps have been taken, and it is necessary to continue this to the end. Therefore, naturally, courage and political will are needed for compromises so that this political agreement can be truly implemented and entered into force. I hope that this will be achieved and we will support it as much as we can from afar, however possible. Thank you very much.

Then, journalists’ questions were answered.

Ullrich Steinkol from the Berlin-based DPA news agency:

-Mr. Aliyev, your colleague in Yerevan stated that the obstacles to the implementation of this agreement are overcomeable. He himself is working on this. The difficulty is that your country is putting forward additional demands. Can you explain how serious you are in signing this peace agreement? How serious is this peace for you? I have another question for Mr. Federal President, maybe you have brought a message from Armenia to Azerbaijan?

President Ilham Aliyev: During today’s conversation, I informed Mr. President sufficiently about the Azerbaijani-Armenian peace process. I stated that after the end of the Second Karabakh War, it was Azerbaijan and I personally who initiated the start of peace negotiations. At that time, neither Armenia nor the then-functioning OSCE Minsk Group put forward such a proposal. This proposal was made by the Azerbaijani side. This in itself shows how interested we are in concluding a peace treaty. Since there was no response from Armenia, we also outlined the main principles of this possible treaty. I remember that 5 main principles were put forward and discussions were launched on the basis of these principles. The main obstacle to the negotiations was that until January 2024, Armenia insisted on including the fate of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in the peace treaty. We categorically opposed this. Because there is no republic called “Nagorno-Karabakh”. It existed only in Armenia’s imagination. The Karabakh region of Azerbaijan exists. Since this is our internal affair, we could, of course, never agree to include such a clause in an interstate agreement.

However, a few months after the end of separatism in the Karabakh territory in September 2023, Armenia agreed to remove the article it had been insisting on from the text of the peace treaty. In fact, real negotiations began about a year ago. To date, the text of the peace treaty has been fully agreed upon and consists of 17 paragraphs. Azerbaijan has not put forward any additional conditions here. Our conditions are known to Armenia, they are not new. We have been putting forward these conditions for a long time. However, we have not received any serious response from Armenia to this day. What is this? First, the OSCE Minsk Group should be abolished. The logic of this is that the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group, established in 1992, was to resolve the Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan itself resolved the Karabakh conflict – on the basis of the UN Charter and within the framework of international law. Since the conflict has been resolved and Armenia officially recognizes Karabakh as the territory of Azerbaijan, there is no basis left for the de jure activities of the OSCE Minsk Group. This group was already de facto inactive. Armenia’s refusal to agree to this rightfully raises doubts in us. I wonder why? Maybe Armenia still wants to make territorial claims against us? Their rapid arming, acquisition of deadly weapons, and the fact that France, their main supporter in this area, is inciting them to new provocations naturally increase these doubts. So, this is the first issue.

The second issue is related to the constitution of Armenia. The constitution of Armenia contains a reference to the act of independence of Armenia. It is an integral part of the constitution. There is a provision there on the unification of the legal, historical territory of Azerbaijan with Armenia, and this is considered an open territorial claim against us. Therefore, the removal of this clause from the constitution of Armenia is our legitimate demand. Once these two conditions are met, there will be no obstacle to signing a peace treaty. As they say, the ball is in Armenia’s court. If Armenia really wants to sign a peace treaty, it must accept these two legitimate conditions of Azerbaijan.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier:

-Ladies and gentlemen.

Anyone who has observed this conflict, its escalation and the pain it has caused, the wars that have caused so many victims over the past three decades, understands that when such a conflict is resolved, it takes a lot of time and effort to restore mutual trust between the two sides. I say this in advance, I welcome it with sympathy, that is, I know that it takes a lot of effort to develop such a text after these conflicts. It is a huge task to reach this agreement at this time. I hope that an agreement will be reached on those conditions outside this agreement, which Mr. Ilham Aliyev has just mentioned. I believe that they should not become an obstacle to achieving lasting peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia. I repeat, this is a very important spirit, an important moment, it would be irresponsible to lose the spirit of this moment. It is necessary to remember that the experience of both Germany and Europe is that the preparation of an agreement, the implementation of a peace agreement is the first step. Then it takes generations for it to really come into force, for it to truly become a reconciliation. This is a very long process. It will take a lot of time for both countries and their peoples to truly realize this trust, this reconciliation. Therefore, it is impossible to ignore the fact that this reconciliation requires a long time. But the first step is the preparation, signing, ratification and entry into force of the agreement, its implementation, so that after that other problems can be resolved. I hope that this will happen soon.

Vafa Hamzayeva from REAL Television :

– I greet you both. My question is for Mr. Steinmeier. Mr. President, you mentioned in your speech that you were following these processes between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the conflict, and the point we have reached now, and we are sure that you are aware of the processes. Armenia has been waging an aggressive war on the territories of Azerbaijan for nearly 30 years and has seriously violated the norms of international law. It occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories. Probably, if sanctions had been imposed against Armenia at that time, the conflict would have been resolved much faster. Why do you think the West did not take concrete steps against Armenia? Thank you.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier:

-First of all, I want to say that thank you very much for the question. But you probably listened to what I said. I have dealt with the conflicts in the South Caucasus in various positions, and I have been familiar with the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia for a long time. If you look at the policies of the German governments in recent years, you will probably see that there has been a very balanced attitude towards this region, both towards Armenia and Azerbaijan. That is, we have tried to show such an attitude that we do not neglect the sensitivities there, and so far we have expressed our attitude in accordance with the norms of international law. As I said, we very much welcome the preparation of a peace treaty and we know and recognize that the Karabakh region is the territory of Azerbaijan. This is our position, and this position can also be specified by Azerbaijan.

Silvia Stöber, correspondent for the German ARD television channel :

– Mr. President Aliyev. You mentioned 17 paragraphs. Which of these 17 paragraphs is the most important for Azerbaijan?

Mr. President Steinmeier, you used the word reconciliation. This reconciliation was essential for the reconstruction of Germany after the Second World War. What role did the rapprochement of the peoples of European countries play in this? I would be happy if you could talk about that as well.

President Ilham Aliyev: In fact, in such historical agreements, every paragraph, every clause is of great importance. During my conversation with President Steinmeier, I stated that Azerbaijan did not want to overload this agreement on purpose, so it is a very concise agreement, covering the main principles. I repeat, every issue is of serious importance there. Experts, lawyers, representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the two countries worked actively on this document, and I believe that both sides showed good faith. Otherwise, this document would not have been created. This is the first. Secondly, in Armenia and some Western circles they want to blame Azerbaijan for not signing the agreement. This is also completely unfounded. Because, as I have already noted, the initiator of this process was Azerbaijan. It was Azerbaijan that worked out the main principles, and we participated in these negotiations in good faith. If we did not want to sign the agreement, we would have set such an unrealistic condition that Armenia would not accept it.

As for the most basic, most important of those principles, of course, this is Armenia’s recognition of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity – on the condition that Karabakh is included. Moreover, from the same Armenian government, whose head, in 2019, illegally arrived in Khankendi – on Azerbaijani territory – declared at a rally that “Karabakh is Armenia, period.” Today, some – I have said this several times – are trying to present Armenia as a “dove of peace.” But the Armenian government is the same government that, after coming to power in 2018, nullified all the negotiations that had been held up to that point. It stated that Azerbaijan should hold negotiations with the so-called illegal “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.” It not only did not eliminate its groundless territorial claims against us, but even toughened its demands. Look, the Minister of Defense of the same Armenian government today openly said that Armenia is preparing for a new war for new territories. That is, it is completely wrong and unfounded to make a “peace dove” out of the current Armenian government and those at its head. The text agreed upon today shows that Armenia is forced to sign this peace treaty. Because despite the Victory we achieved on the battlefield, and the subsequent dominance of Azerbaijan’s position in the political sphere, despite the efforts of some European countries standing behind Armenia, neither the UN Security Council nor the European Union took any restrictive measures against Azerbaijan, today Armenia is forced to recognize Karabakh as the territory of Azerbaijan. Therefore, naturally, between these points, this is exactly what happens – a person who said “Karabakh is Armenia and period” today says “Karabakh is Azerbaijan.” I think this is a wonderful evolutionary process and we welcome it.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier:

– Let me say a few sentences in response to the question asked to me. How should reconciliation be established? How can one initiate it? There is no recipe for this, there is no standard for this that can be applied everywhere. What is known is that after waging war with each other, new trust only arises when some time passes, that is, it does not happen all at once, this mutual trust must be built slowly and carefully. In response to your question, I will give an example from Europe: Ullrich Wickard, a German journalist, a colleague of yours who you know, recently published a book on German-French relations. He writes in it that over the past 400 years, Germany and France have fought 23 wars. The last three wars in 1870, 1914 and 1939 caused a lot of sacrifices. Germany and France were enemies who hated each other endlessly. In past history books, we can see that France was described as Germany’s archenemy. In other words, it is not easy to expect that after so many sacrifices, close friendly relations will ever be established and these two peoples will be so close to each other. Looking at previous history books, this was unthinkable. It took both determination and political will on both sides to leave the past behind and take a step towards a new future. In every region, in the world, including the South Caucasus, there is such a desire – probably everyone desires this – to live in freedom and peace. In order to live in peace, work must also be done politically.

Orkhan Amashov from Azerbaijan’s AnewZ television :

– My question is for President Steinmeier. The former leaders of the so-called separatist regime created by Armenia in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan are currently on trial in Baku. In their statements, they admit that the bombing of Azerbaijani cities and villages, which resulted in the deaths of more than 100 civilians, was carried out on the direct orders of the current leadership of Armenia, more precisely, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. With regard to these war crimes, why have the European Union and its institutions not imposed sanctions on Armenia and its political and military leadership?

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier:

– When I look at Germany’s foreign policy, I have been a participant in this policy in recent times, I have participated in many governments. On our behalf, I can say that we have never reconciled with the non-peaceful situation in this region. We have never supported the territorial claims of one side to the other. We proceed from the fact that internationally recognized borders must be in force, must be recognized, and these borders must be treated with respect. As for Germany’s position, I can say that we have remained loyal to our line, we have always been loyal to our position. I hope that this is also understood in your region. We want the non-peaceful period between the two states to be left behind and a new future to be created, so that there is stability there. For both Armenia and Azerbaijan, the entire South Caucasus to become a region that creates peace.