Azerbaijan president appreciates Pakistan for consistent support on Karabakh issue

During a conversation with Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on Sunday expressed deep appreciation for Pakistan’s longstanding and consistent support to Azerbaijan on the Karabakh issue.

PM Shehbaz received a telephone call from President Aliyev Sunday evening. The prime minister offered his warm felicitations to the president and people of Azerbaijan on the historic peace agreement that was recently concluded between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the PM Office said.

The premier reaffirmed that it has always been a matter of duty for the people of Pakistan to extend their support to their Azerbaijani brothers and sisters on the core issue of Karabakh and it was heartening to note that, under President Aliyev’s bold leadership and statesmanship, peace had finally been established in this region.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a US-brokered peace agreement on Friday during a meeting with Trump that would boost bilateral economic ties after decades of conflict and move them toward a full normalisation of their relations.

PM Shehbaz welcomes US-brokered peace agreement between Azerbaijan, Armenia

The deal between the South Caucasus rivals would be a significant accomplishment for the Trump administration.

“It’s a long time — 35 years — they fought and now they’re friends, and they’re going to be friends for a long time,” Trump said at a signing ceremony at the White House, where he was flanked by Azerbaijani President Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.

Pakistan had welcomed the historic peace agreement signed between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which was finalised at a White House Summit under the auspices of US President Trump.

While thanking Shehbaz, Aliyev said that peaceful development in the region would create new opportunities for enhanced connectivity between Pakistan and Central Asia.

During their cordial conversation, the two leaders also expressed their satisfaction on the positive trajectory of their bilateral cooperation.

The prime minister lauded the visionary role of President Aliyev in bringing the three decades-old conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia to a peaceful and mutually beneficial end especially as it would usher in a new era of prosperity for the Caucuses.

He particularly appreciated the role played by US President Donald Trump in facilitating this historic deal that, he said, would now bring peace and prosperity to the region.

Lauding Trump as a peace maker across the globe, the prime minister mentioned that the US president played a positive role in ending the recent Indo-Pak war as well.

While recalling their recent interactions in Lachin and Khankendi, PM Shehbaz reiterated his invitation to President Aliyev to undertake an official visit to Pakistan soon. Both leaders are also expected to meet in Tianjin on the margins of the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit.