Correspondent: Hello and welcome to Eurasia Talks from Davos, and I’m delighted to be joined today by Azerbaijan’s President, Mr. Ilham Aliyev. Thank you so much for joining us today. It’s wonderful to see you. As you join world leaders here in Davos, we are at this moment witnessing a fundamental reassessment of the existing international system. Now, you’ve warned about this shift before. How does your country engage with this changing world order, and what is your message to world leaders?
President Ilham Aliyev: Well, actually, as you mentioned, we’ve been facing a situation in which international law norms were not obligatory for all the actors of the international community. Therefore, our strategic goal was to achieve results based on our national interest, and with all respect to international law, do what we thought was right. Everything that we’ve done, whether it’s political development or restoration of our sovereignty and territorial integrity, was in line with international law and common values. Today, as you mentioned, international relations are entering a new era, where it is not the rule of law, but the rule of strength that is ruling the situation. We can see it in different parts of the world. Therefore, it once again signals that every country should base their strategy and policy on their potential, establish good relations with as many countries as possible, first in your region, and second on a global scale. That’s what Azerbaijan managed to achieve.
– I want to congratulate you. I learned yesterday that you will be receiving the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity for all of your efforts. And obviously, this brings me on to the next question. Amid the historic peace deal in Armenia, the South Caucasus is evolving fast in a global context, you know, after decades of competing interests, influences, and shifting alliances. How do you assess the current balance between risk and opportunity in the region?
– First of all, thank you for the congratulations. It’s a big honor for me to receive this prestigious award, especially as it bears the name of the founder of the UAE, late Sheikh Zayed. I consider it as appreciation of our efforts to establish peace in the Caucasus after more than 30 years of bloodshed, conflict, and wars. Today, the Southern Caucasus also enters a new stage of development. We have lived in peace only for five, six months; we are learning to do it. We never lived in peace in all our independent history. It’s a special feeling. And of course, it’s a great opportunity. Today, the relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan is already evolving into cooperation. We lifted all the restrictions on cargo transportation to Armenia. Moreover, we started to supply critical commodities to Armenia, primarily oil products, which the country is largely dependent on. It’s a win-win situation. So, I think that by the joint efforts of Armenia and Azerbaijan, including the civil society, we will achieve not long-lasting peace, but peace forever in the Caucasus. This is our goal.
– We hope so, yes. With Iran as your neighbor, I want to also mention, how is Azerbaijan engaging with the evolving crisis that we are seeing there? And what is your assessment of its impact of stability across Eurasia, also including the energy markets?
– Every country, including Azerbaijan, should think about stability around and beyond its borders. With respect to Azerbaijan, we do not have any potential risks inside the country. All the potential risks can come from outside. Therefore, for us, stability in our neighborhood is something that we always think about. We’ve been concerned about some destabilization in Iran. And for us, stability, predictability, and peace in the region are the biggest asset. We suffered from occupation, from war, from losing thousands of victims. And today, stability and security for every country are the only way to succeed.
With respect to the energy market, as you see today, the oil price is stable. It is at the appropriate level, at least for Azerbaijan. It demonstrates that the situation in Iran, the situation in Venezuela, and in other parts of the world do not seriously influence the price of oil. This is a good sign, because producers and consumers, they need to know the predictability of the situation in order to plan their future.
So I hope that the situation in the South Caucasus and around it will not deteriorate. This is what we really wish to see. I hope that every country will contribute to regional stability and security.
– Where do you feel that the South Caucasus sits in terms of being an emerging force in the energy sector and moving towards the EU as well?
– With respect to the energy sector, Azerbaijan is the only country in the Southern Caucasus which has energy resources and exports them to other countries of the Southern Caucasus. Other countries of the region import energy resources from Azerbaijan – Georgia for many years, and now Armenia. With respect to Europe and the European Union, our energy cooperation is growing. We already supply natural gas to 16 countries, and 10 of them are members of the European Union. So by this coverage, by the geographical coverage of supply of pipeline gas, Azerbaijan is number one in the world.
We have resources, we have a transportation system, modern pipelines. We have good relations with many European countries, and for them it’s a way to strengthen their energy security. For us, it’s an opportunity to sell our resources on the premium market. Though we sell gas not only in Europe, we have also started to export gas to Syria recently, but the European market, of course, is the best from the point of view of prices.
– How do you feel and how do you react to this constant criticism of Azerbaijan from the EU Parliament?
– Well, we do not react any longer.
– Very diplomatic answer.
– Yeah. We stopped reacting. We did react in the past, but of course, it’s so obvious that this biased situation towards Azerbaijan is generated by special lobbying groups, by special forces which cannot digest Azerbaijan’s independent policy.
So actually we have for many years already stopped any cooperation with the European Parliament and also with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. We cooperate with the European Commission, and for us it is enough.
But I think European Parliament puts itself in a very awkward situation, accusing us of what we have never done, including so-called our aggressive position towards Armenia, while Armenia itself appreciates the relationship with Azerbaijan.
Last August, the peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan was initialed in the White House. So I hope that members of the European Parliament will find the courage to reconsider their unfair policy towards Azerbaijan.
– Mr. President, always a pleasure talking to you. Thank you for joining us on Euronews this morning.
– Thank you for the invitation.
