Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Iran encourages Armenia and Azerbaijan to solve their problem by themselves, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi told APA on March 6.

He added that Iran does not interfere in the affairs of its northern neighbors as they are independent countries.

Previously, Tehran has repeatedly voiced readiness to mediate between the two Southern Caucasus states of Armenia and Azerbaijan to help settle the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The conflict began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

Qasemi further noted that the economic relations existing between Iran and Azerbaijan do not satisfy Tehran, and Iran wants to develop these relations.

“We are also negotiating in connection with the abolition of the visa regime for Iranian citizens,” he said. “We hope that with the support of the heads of state of both countries, the issue will be resolved in a favorable way."

Since February 2010, Iran unilaterally abolished its visa regime for all citizens of Azerbaijan. The citizens of Azerbaijan can travel to Iran and stay in the country without visa from 15 to 90 days.

As for the trade turnover between two countries, it hit some $15.77 million in January 2017, while the index of last January stood at $9.56 million.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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