Work on peace treaty between Azerbaijan, Armenia not going very smoothly, but Baku focused on normalization - Aliyev

ASTANA. April 10 (Interfax) - The work on a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia is going ahead not as smoothly as desired, but Baku is determined to normalize relations with Yerevan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.

"I've informed my counterpart [Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev] of the current status of the negotiating process [with Armenia]. We are determined to normalize our relations and put an end to the second Karabakh war. It is precisely Azerbaijan that has proposed starting work on a peace treaty, which has practically been started, but it is moving ahead not as smoothly as we would like it to," Aliyev said at a press briefing as part of his official visit to Kazakhstan on Monday.

"But there is no alternative to this, and the relationship between the neighbors should be normal, even despite a grave history of the thirty years of occupation, the Azerbaijani people's sufferings, and the destruction that we have to rebuild now," he said.

"Despite all this, we are looking to the future and believe we can forge a peace treaty based on sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of borders, the UN Charter, and all fundamental norms and principles of international law, which would turn over the page of years-long enmity," he said.