“The most important thing is to remain calm, to provide stability in the region,” he said.

Regarding the situation in his country following the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, in which Baku took back swathes of territory taken by Armenian separatists in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, he said that Azerbaijan wants “to rebuild and rehabilitate all the occupied territories.”

“Peace,” he said, “depends on the will of both countries,” adding that “there is no alternative to peace.”

Amirbayev denied claims that some 120,000 Armenians are being pressured to return to Armenia from territory captured by Azerbaijan, noting that he did not “think there were so many Armenians in the region.”

“There is no blockade right now,” he said, noting “5,000 cars, trucks and different vehicles are bringing humanitarian aid to the Karabakh region.”

Amirbayov hailed the opening of a new embassy in Tel Aviv:

“First of all, Israel is a very important strategic partner for Azerbaijan,” he said. “It is a friend of Azerbaijan. I think the decision to open an embassy reflects the results of the evolution in our relations over decades.”

While Israeli-Azeri relations are improving, Amirbayov stressed the importance of diplomacy with Iran, the Jewish state’s main adversary in the Middle East.

“For us, it is important that Iran, which is an important neighbor in terms of size and history, remains a good neighbor,” he said.

Some 20 to 30 million Iranians are of Azeri origins, Amirbayov noted, making decent relations between Baku and Tehran of utmost importance despite differing outlooks.