SHUSHA, Azerbaijan, July 13. President Trump and his team stepped in, and they created such a framework that peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia became possible, said President Ilham Aliyev during a meeting with participants of the 4th Shusha Global Media Forum.
"Yes, there is a big difference between what President Trump has done and is doing and what his predecessors did. Because unfortunately, during the period of occupation, which lasted for almost 30 years, American administrations, along with the other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, were mainly pursuing the policy of freezing the conflict, not liberating Azerbaijani territory based on the resolutions of the Security Council of the United Nations, which they themselves adopted. But their goal was to freeze the situation and to use it as leverage over Azerbaijan and also, to a certain degree, over Armenia. All of them were working in a very synchronized way, and all the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group was aimed not at the resolution of the conflict but at making the occupation endless.
President Trump's approach was quite different. He is a person who loves peace, a person who brings peace to many places. As he himself says, he brought peace to eight conflicts, and this is his character, this is his vision, and this is his policy.
So, in our case, his role was very important when Azerbaijan and Armenia were in the final stage of negotiations on a peace agreement. President Trump and his team stepped in, and they created such a framework that peace became possible.
They totally understood our concerns with respect to peace. They clearly understood the necessity of the Zangezur Corridor, which will connect Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave. And they worked very efficiently, also in order to persuade Armenia that they needed this peace as well. And at that historic meeting at the White House, the Armenian Prime Minister, President Trump, and I signed the Joint Declaration, and also, in the presence of President Trump, the ministers of foreign affairs of both countries initialed the peace agreement. As I said, President Trump, in my presence, signed a waiver of the restrictions and sanctions, and also we signed a document to establish a joint working group to prepare a Strategic Partnership Agreement within six months," the head of state said.
