Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes Yerevan and Baku can strike a peace deal without outside mediators.

Aliyev, at the sixth World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku today, said the recent border demarcation agreement with Armenia was reached without any mediation.

“This once again demonstrates that we don’t need mediators, especially those who pursue their own goals and don’t want to help but rather want to penetrate our region for their personal, political, and economic interests. They want to once again pour oil to the fire and explode the South Caucasus,” Aliyev is quoted as saying. 

Aliyev claimed that it was Baku that proposed peace negotiations with Yerevan and that talks underway are based on its draft proposal.

“I think, Azerbaijan and Armenia clearly understand that we need peace in the South Caucasus. Peace in the South Caucasus can only be achieved through normalization between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” Aliyev said at the forum organized by Azerbaijan, UNESCO, the World Tourism Organization, and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.