Washington’s previous approach to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was different from the current one, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at the opening ceremony of the 4th Shusha [i.e. Shushi] Global Media Forum, entitled "The Mission of the Media in Promoting Peace: Restoring Truth and Rebuilding Trust," APA reports.

Aliyev stated that “during the 30-year occupation,” in his assessment, the goal of the US administration and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs was to maintain the status quo.

According to him, incumbent US President Donald Trump’s approach, however, was different. The Azerbaijani president called him a peace-loving politician who is able to contribute to the end of conflicts.

“He has contributed to resolving eight conflicts. This is his character, his vision and his policy. In our case as well, his role became very important when negotiations on the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace agreement reached their final stage. President Trump and his team joined the process and created a framework that made peace possible,” Aliyev noted.

He added that the American side took into account Baku’s concerns and understood the importance of the transport project related to the “Zangezur Corridor.”

“They [i.e. the US] fully understood our concerns regarding peace. They also clearly understood the necessity of the Zangezur Corridor linking mainland Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and worked very effectively to convince Armenia that this peace was also important for it,” Aliyev stated.