BAKU - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Oct. 27 that Baku initiated a peace agreement with Armenia because it did not want an endless cycle of war or revenge, while warning that attempts to dictate policy to Azerbaijan would meet a firm response.
Aliyev made the remarks at the opening of the seventh World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku, linking the peace process with Armenia to Azerbaijan’s sovereignty, national identity and position in international affairs.
Peace After War
Aliyev said Azerbaijan proposed peace after the 2020 war and the military operation of 2023 because it did not intend to continue the confrontation indefinitely. Azerbaijan and Armenia initialed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement in August 2025, but the document has not yet been formally signed.
“We initiated the peace agreement with Armenia because we did not want endless wars and had no intention of seeking revenge,” Aliyev said, according to APA.
He said the desire for retribution should have ended on the battlefield and should not shape future relations between the two countries. Aliyev argued that parties to other conflicts could study Azerbaijan’s experience, saying that military victory must eventually give way to a political settlement.
His remarks described the Azerbaijani government’s position; they did not indicate that a final peace treaty had been signed.
Warning Against Double Standards
Aliyev called for an effective mechanism to enforce United Nations decisions. He cited four U.N. Security Council resolutions adopted during the Karabakh conflict, saying they went unimplemented for decades while Armenia faced no sanctions.
The president said Azerbaijan viewed attempts to tell independent states how to live as an expression of superiority. Any effort to impose decisions on the country or disregard its interests would encounter resistance, he said.
Aliyev also described ideological threats as potentially as dangerous as physical ones. He said Azerbaijan faced no significant internal threat but must protect its independence, identity and way of life from challenges originating outside the country.
International Partnerships and Transit Role
Aliyev cited Azerbaijan’s strategic partnerships with China and the United States, agreements with 10 European Union members, plans to host an Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit in 2027 and a European Political Community summit in 2028.
He also pointed to Azerbaijan’s low foreign debt, its role as an energy supplier and its position on regional transport routes. Developed infrastructure and relations with neighboring countries have made Azerbaijan an important transit link, he said.
More than 2,000 participants registered for the Baku forum, including over 500 foreign guests from more than 100 countries.
Sources: Vesti Baku; APA.