LONDON: Azerbaijan is optimistic about achieving a lasting peace treaty with Armenia and believes that addressing the question of defining their borders can be resolved separately, according to a senior Azerbaijani official. Hikmet Hajiyev, a top foreign policy adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, emphasized that the decades-long conflict is over, and Azerbaijan’s strategy now focuses on winning peace.

Hajiyev stated, “For Azerbaijan, there are no longer obstacles on the way to a peace agenda,” highlighting the importance of direct bilateral talks, which will continue in the coming year. The neighbours, who fought two wars in the past 30 years over Nagorno-Karabakh, recently engaged in a prisoner exchange and expressed their intention to normalize relations and reach a peace deal.

While international entities like the United States, the European Union, and Russia have traditionally mediated between the two sides, Azerbaijan favors direct bilateral negotiations. The outstanding issue of defining the shared border remains, with each country holding small enclaves within the other’s territory.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan acknowledged the matter as negotiable, and Hajiyev indicated Azerbaijan’s willingness to discuss it. However, he emphasized that “the border delimitation issue should be kept separate from peace treaty discussions.”

Azerbaijan’s recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh has led to increased hostility towards external involvement in the negotiation process. The World Court recently ordered Azerbaijan to allow ethnic Armenians to return and ensure their safety. Hajiyev stated that people’s right to return should be determined on a case-by-case basis, and they would need to become citizens of Azerbaijan.

He emphasized reciprocity, mentioning Azerbaijanis who were forced to flee Armenia or Armenian-controlled territory since 1988, stating, “We cannot afford a legal limbo status anymore.”