Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accepted Croatia’s proposal to clear the territories in Karabakh, the press service of the head of Azerbaijan reports.
At the meeting with Aliyev, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic offered istance in clearing mines. The parties, as noted in the release, first held one-on-one negotiations, then had a dinner with the participation of delegations. During the negotiations, the leaders of the two countries discussed issues of cooperation in trade and economic relations, energy, tourism and other areas.
“At the meeting, Croatia’s intention, as a country suffering from mines, to provide support to Azerbaijan in this area was positively welcomed, and the importance of sharing experience and cooperation in the field of mine clearance was noted,” the press service reported.
Aliyev and Plenkovic also emphasized at the meeting that Croatia, as a member country of the European Union and NATO, constantly supports Azerbaijan’s cooperation with these institutions.
To develop a plan for the final entry of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) into the country, the “Croatian model” was taken as a basis, Hikmet Hajiyev, adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on foreign policy, said in an interview with Politico on September 24. This model umes that the Erdut Agreement of 1995 on the integration of the Serbian minority of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium will be taken as a model, Yakov Smirnov, a researcher at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Vedomosti. According to those agreements, joint municipal committees for the management of communities were formed in Serbian areas, as well as police forces consisting of both Croats and Serbs.
After Baku carried out “anti-terrorist measures” in Nagorno-Karabakh in September, Aliyev said that the process of reintegration of the Armenian population of Karabakh should be successful. He noted that all those living in the Karabakh region are citizens of Azerbaijan, regardless of nationality, and their rights and freedoms will be fully ensured.