BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 26. Today, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and Head of the Department of Foreign Policy at the Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev held a meeting with Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan under the auspices of the high-ranking EU officials, TurkicWorld reports.

President of the European Council Charles Michel has also joined the meeting for a brief views exchange.

The sides reviewed the latest developments in the South Caucasus, and, in particular, Hikmet Hajiyev and Armen Grigoryan discussed possible concrete steps to advance the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process, such as border demarcation, security, communication, humanitarian issues, and a peace treaty.

Therefore, this statement from the EU confirms that the new reality created as a result of Azerbaijan's local counter-terrorism measures in Karabakh has been accepted by the international community.

It once again verifies that the measures taken by Azerbaijan were aimed at neutralizing illegal Armenian armed formations and their military infrastructure on the country's sovereign territory.

Another significant detail is that this statement essentially confirms that Azerbaijan not only did not target the civilian population but, on the contrary, fulfilled its obligations to ensure the safety of the residents of the region.

Primarily, Azerbaijan wishes for the civilian population to remain in their places of residence, while providing humanitarian assistance for them, and creating conditions for international humanitarian missions to work there. The evacuation of civilians from the territory is not mandatory - it is their own choice.

The new reality created as a result of counter-terrorism operations shows that there is no alternative to peace, and moving forward, the parties must mobilize all their efforts to make it last.