Azerbaijani President Aliyev indicated that achieving peace with Armenia is soon (Getty)

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced yesterday, Sunday, that his country is closer than ever to achieving a peace agreement with Armenia, about 6 months after Azerbaijan regained the Karabakh region, which was under the control of the Armenian ethnic majority, followed by mass exodus of Armenians.

In his comments after his meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, in the capital, Baku, Aliyev indicated that they are in an “active stage” of peace negotiations with Armenia.

He added, "We are now closer to achieving peace than ever before."

Stoltenberg welcomed progress towards peace between the two countries, expressing his appreciation for Aliyev's statements about getting close to reaching a peace agreement with Armenia.

He encouraged seizing this opportunity to reach a lasting peace agreement between the two parties.

Last December, Azerbaijan and Armenia issued a joint statement, expressing their desire to reach a peace agreement.

Since then, several talks have taken place between them, including two days of negotiations in Berlin last February.

The press office of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has not commented on Aliyev's statements yet.

In 1988, war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan for the first time over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

After decades of conflict, Azerbaijan regained control over Karabakh, which had been under the control of the Armenian ethnic majority since the 1990s, last September despite international recognition of its affiliation to Azerbaijan.

Because of the attack, most of the Armenians in the region, who number about 120,000 people, fled to neighboring Armenia.

Armenia described the attack as an operation of ethnic cleansing, while Azerbaijan denied these allegations and stressed that those who fled could have stayed and integrated.

The main points of the peace agreement revolve around demarcating borders and establishing regional transport corridors across the territories of both parties.

Armenia raised the issue of determining control over areas where there are ethnic groups on both sides of the border.

Source: Reuters