President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev expressed hope that the process of preparing the peace treaty with Armenia will not take long.

"We have some optimism regarding the peace process, because recently, a few days ago, the meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia took place, the first meeting of its kind with the agenda of the preparation of the draft peace treaty. We hope that (the preparation of the peace treaty - ed.) will not take long," Aliyev said in his speech today, during the first National Urban Development Forum in Aghdam, Interfax's Azerbaijani service reports.

The leader of Azerbaijan emphasized that Baku knows about the tactics that Armenia usually uses when it does not want to reach an agreement. He added that Azerbaijan followed this tactic of Armenia during the 28 years of Karabakh settlement negotiations. Aliyev called on Armenia to refrain from such politics.  "If it is the choice of Armenia, then they are making another serious mistake," he said.

Aliyev reminded that after the 44-day war, Azerbaijan offered Armenia to sign a peace treaty based on 5 principles.

He also stated that Baku is not going to discuss the Karabakh issue, because it is "Azerbaijan's internal matter".  Aliyev added that the Armenian population of Karabakh is the citizens of Azerbaijan.

"Karabakh is Azerbaijan, and the second Karabakh war confirmed that. During the occupation, no country, including Armenia, recognized this artificial entity (meaning Artsakh Republic - ed.). These are issues related to Azerbaijan's internal affairs, we have never discussed it with international institutions or any country," the President of Azerbaijan said.