- ‘The strategic partnership with Azerbaijan is very important for Georgia,’ says Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili
ISTANBUL
Azerbaijan and Georgia held high-level discussions Thursday aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili met in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to discuss political, economic and humanitarian aspects of their countries’ strategic partnership as well as regional issues.
Regarding regional security matters of mutual interest, Bayramov informed Botchorishvili about post-conflict reconstruction, demining and peace efforts as well as challenges to lasting peace in the South Caucasus, according to Baku’s Foreign Ministry.
“Azerbaijan and Georgia have always approached international law with sensitivity, and we have always supported each other’s territorial integrity and will continue to do so,” Bayramov later said in a joint press briefing.
“Unfortunately, we cannot say the same about the other country in the region, Armenia,” he said. “Only as a result of the 44-day Patriotic War and the one-day anti-terror operations did Azerbaijan restore its territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
“Despite our lands being under occupation for many years, our people being displaced from those regions, and acts of vandalism against our cultural monuments, Azerbaijan has offered Armenia to work on a peace treaty.
“This initiative was put forward to ensure peace and stability in our common home, the South Caucasus,” he added.
‘Azerbaijan’s partnership is important for Georgia’
Botchorishvili emphasized the importance of her country’s strategic partnership with Azerbaijan.
“The strategic partnership with Azerbaijan is very important for Georgia,” she said during the press conference.
“There is a very strong friendship between our peoples. It is very gratifying that there is a strong partnership between our countries,” she added.
She emphasized Georgia’s priority of integrating into European and Euro-Atlantic structures, noting its status as a European Union candidate country and the need for joint efforts by both Georgia and the EU to achieve this goal.
She also highlighted the importance of strong relations with neighboring countries, including a strategic partnership with Armenia, and expressed Georgia’s readiness to use its potential to support peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh—a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan—and seven adjacent regions.
Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that opened the door to normalization talks and the demarcation of their border.
In September 2023, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh following an “anti-terrorist operation,” after which separatist forces in the region surrendered.
