Pakistan supports Azerbaijan’s aspiration for stability in its region, said the Ambassador of Pakistan to Azerbaijan Bilal Hayee
“Azerbaijan strives to achieve stability, peace and prosperity in its region. We believe that there is no alternative to peace. Peace is important not only for neighboring countries, but also for the entire region and for the international community,” he said.
What’s the background? For years, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been over the rugged highlands of Nagorno-Karabakh. The two sides fought a six-year war to control the enclave, which was part of Muslim-majority Azerbaijan but mainly populated by ethnic Armenian Christians. The conflict ended in 1994 with over 30,000 dead, more than one million displaced, and a fragile truce that left Nagorno-Karabakh as a de facto independent state, supported by Armenia but not recognized by other countries, including Azerbaijan.
Two outside players — Turkey and Russia — are on opposite sides of the conflict. Turkey has close relations with fellow Turkic Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is Turkey’s main oil supplier. Russia is the dominant player in the region. But although it sells weapons to both Azerbaijan and Armenia. Vladimir Putin will have to decide whether to honor that obligation. Doing so could quickly put Ankara and Moscow on opposite sides of another nasty war.
Iran also has a stake. It borders both countries, and Azeris are Iran’s largest ethnic minority. Although Tehran has traditionally backed Yerevan, and often bickers with Baku over energy and security in the Caspian Sea, the Iranians offered to mediate when the latest tensions began two months ago.
We have to add that Azerbaijan, Turkiye and Pakistan sign Istanbul Declaration back in jULY 2022. Chairman of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Mustafa Sentop and Chairman of the National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said at the event that the signed declaration was immensely important since it was going to bring about a further advance in the relations amongst our countries.
‘I am emphatically thankful to the parliaments of the brotherly countries for their support for the restoration and re-construction of the de-occupied lands of the Azerbaijan Republic and for establishing a good neighbourhood based on the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders in the South Caucasus,’ Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said.
