AIR Center Chairman: Conditions for durable peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia have been formed

“The geopolitical situation that emerged after the 44-day war, which ended the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, as well as subsequent developments such as the initialing of the text of the peace treaty in Washington on August 8, 2025, have created conditions for durable peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

AIR Center’s Chairman of the Board Farid Shafiyev said in his address at the online seminar titled “Recalibrating Regional Geopolitics in the Age of Greater Eurasia,” organized by the Türkiye-Azerbaijan Program at the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS), News.Az reports.

He touched on possible scenarios regarding the June 7 parliamentary elections in Armenia.

“If Prime Minister Pashinyan and his party win, we will advance the normalization process. This normalization will not only involve Armenia and Azerbaijan but also Armenia and Türkiye. With the TRIPP project, we have a promising transport initiative between Azerbaijan and Armenia extending to Türkiye, and basically, we are speaking about a new branch of the Middle Corridor. Currently, the Middle Corridor runs from Kazakhstan through Azerbaijan, across the Caspian Sea, to Georgia and onward to Türkiye. With TRIPP, we will have the shortest route to Türkiye, creating a vital link between Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan exclave.”

He also touched on the activities of certain forces attempting to derail the ongoing peace process.

“All conditions for regional peace are in place. However, unfortunately, there are also spoilers, which I would like to mention. We see that on the threshold of Armenian elections, certain rhetoric is emerging from third countries that seeks to revive conflict-related agendas. We have heard such comments from Russia, where some policymakers speak about former disputed issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

This is not being done in the interest of justice. Justice has already been served. Azerbaijan has restored its territorial integrity. We, together with Armenia, agreed that the only way forward is to respect countries’ territorial integrity. However, such spoiler comments do not come only from Russia but also from EU institutions. Recently, the EU Parliament and the legislative bodies of the Netherlands and Belgium, under the influence of Armenian lobbying groups, passed resolutions that are antagonistic toward Azerbaijan.

Individual countries, such as France, have also made remarks (particularly statements by the foreign minister in Yerevan)  that do not contribute to peace and normalization efforts.”

He added that in the upcoming June elections, the Armenian people must make the right choice.

“It is fundamentally about the future of Armenia, which is currently isolated: whether they wish to remain isolated or move forward. Azerbaijan and Türkiye have successfully advanced geoeconomic, transport, and energy projects. Currently, gas from the Caspian Sea passes through Georgia to Türkiye and is delivered to European markets, contributing significantly to energy security. We will certainly see further effects from the war in Ukraine and developments in Iran. Azerbaijan maintains its position in favor of peaceful, diplomatic solutions. Once again, these events demonstrate that uncertainty in Eurasia persists. Pivotal partners such as Türkiye and Pakistan play an important role in regional security, and our trilateral framework also contributes to the security of the entire region.” he concluded.

News.Az 

By Faig Mahmudov