Baku, January 2, AZERTAC

“But unfortunately the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh has not been resolved this year either. The reason for this is the criminal and bloodthirsty regime of Armenia. Armenia does not want peace. All of its efforts are aimed either at not holding the negotiations or at conducting them for the sake of imitation,” President Ilham Aliyev has said in his message of congratulation to the people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of the Day of Solidarity of Azerbaijanis of the World and the New Year.

The Azerbaijani President noted: “This year the mediators were more active - we have to acknowledge that. The leaders of Russia, USA and France held consecutive trilateral meetings in August, September and October. I appreciate that and am grateful to these countries. However, Armenia acted insincerely at these meetings. Moreover, less than two weeks after the Paris meeting it began a large-scale military exercise on occupied territories. The exercises pursued only one goal - to provoke Azerbaijan, to commit an act of sabotage and undermine the process of negotiations. We observed the same in the summer months when Armenian sabotage groups attacked Azerbaijani positions. But the Azerbaijani army gave them a fitting rebuff, killing more than 50 occupants. Similar events took place at the end of this year. And again, the Azerbaijani army gave an adequate response to the enemy.”

“The occupying state should know that a strong Azerbaijani army may restore the territorial integrity of our country at any time. We still hope that the negotiating process can produce a positive result, and there are many factors enhancing this hope. We have political power, economic potential and a powerful army. Next year, about $5 billion will be spent on the development of our army, twice the total budget of the impoverished Armenia.”

“The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh can be resolved only on the basis of norms and principles of international law. UN Security Council resolutions must be implemented. The occupying forces must withdraw from the occupied Azerbaijani lands and the territorial integrity of our country must be restored. These are the basic principles. On the basis of these principles we are ready to sign any agreement,” the head of state added.