Menu
Latest
Menu
Latest
News

Ilham Aliyev: "We need to concentrate on the future"

15 March 2021

The current Chairperson-in-office of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde, on Sunday (14 March) met in Baku with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss the situation in the South Caucasus following the 44-day Karabakh war.

Linde later tweeted:

According to the website of the Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev told Linde that "the conflict is already in the history and we need to look to the future. And we discussed today with you our views how to build the future. We think four months which passed after war already demonstrate the will of both sides to turn the page and to concentrate on the future. This is very important."

The president added, 

"As far as we are concerned, we already started the rehabilitation of the liberated territories. The program of reconstruction already is being implemented. A lot is to be done, because everything is destroyed on the liberated territories-the cities, the villages, the cultural monuments, all infrastructure. So there will be really a very big scope of work. It’s more than 10 thousand square kilometers of totally destroyed area. We already started the process of negotiations on the opening of communications between Armenia and Azerbaijan. That was part of the statement which was signed on November 10. Negotiations already had several rounds, different levels and I think that this particular issue can be a starting point for completely turning the page of war and leaving it to the history. Because opening of communications will be in the benefit of all the regional countries. We will create new opportunities, bring new dynamics to regional cooperation. And it can bring after many other areas of potential cooperation. I already publicly spoke that Azerbaijan is ready for that. We have completed our task, we liberated the territories, implemented the resolutions of Security Council of United Nations and decisions of OSCE. So now, we need to concentrate on future."

source: commonspace.eu with the press office of the president of Azerbaijan and agencies
photo: OSCE CiO met in Baku on 14 March 2021 with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev

Related articles

Editor's choice
News
Armenian and Azerbaijani officials seek to defuse tension
Trending

Armenian and Azerbaijani officials seek to defuse tension

17 September 2026
Armenian and Azerbaijani senior officials have moved to reduce tensions that erupted following an outcry in Armenia after a visit by foreign diplomats to Karabakh and surrounding regions, and a subsequent reaction in Azerbaijan. Armenia’s Security Council Secretary Alen Simonyan has said that following the events that took place at Gandzasar Monastery, he spoke by phone with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s Assistant Hikmet Hajiyev. Responding to a question about whether he plans to publicly respond to Hajiyev’s statements regarding Gandzasar, Simonyan said at a press briefing that not all statements necessarily need to receive a public response. “I think everything has been said, and not everything that is said always needs a response. We need to realize whether this will change something or not. I can say something sharp now, respond in some way, we can all feel good for 15 minutes, but by doing so I could harm the negotiations,” Simonyan said. He stressed that the peace process requires a cautious approach. (click image to read more)

Popular

Editor's choice
Interview
Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov
Trending

Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov

15 January 2026
Today, commonspace.eu starts a new regular weekly series. THURSDAY INTERVIEW, conducted by Lauri Nikulainen, will host  persons who are thinkers, opinion shapers, and implementors in their countries and spheres. We start the series with an interview with Murad Muradov, a leading person in Azerbaijan's think tank community. He is also the first co-chair of the Action Committee for a new Armenian-Azerbaijani Dialogue. Last September he made history by being the first Azerbaijani civil society activist to visit Armenia after the 44 day war, and the start of the peace process. Speaking about this visit Murad Muradov said: "My experience was largely positive. My negative expectations luckily didn’t play out. The discussions were respectful, the panel format bringing together experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey was particularly valuable during the NATO Rose-Roth Seminar in Yerevan, and media coverage, while varied in tone, remained largely constructive. Some media outlets though attempted to represent me as more of a government mouthpiece than an independent expert, which was totally misleading.  Overall, I see these initiatives as important steps in rebuilding trust and normalising professional engagement. The fact that soon a larger Azerbaijani civil society visits to Armenia followed, reinforces the sense that this process is moving in the right direction." (click the image to read the interview in full)
Murad Muradov
Lauri Nikulainen interviews Murad Muradov