Baku, January 16, AZERTAC

“Successfully continuing national leader Heydar Aliyev’s strategy, President Ilham Aliyev demonstrated that he has always paid special attention to the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and secured the national and state interests of Azerbaijan. During his visits to foreign countries, as well as his meetings in Baku, drawing constant attention to the aggressive policy of Armenia, President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that Azerbaijan will never reconcile with the occupation of its territories, adding that if the negotiations yield no results, Azerbaijan will liberate its lands by means of war. At the same time, the head of state emphasized that he supports the peaceful settlement of the conflict, stressing the necessity of the international organizations’ stepping up their efforts in this regard,” said Chairman of the Coordination Council of the Azerbaijani Community of the Nagorno-Karabakh Region of the Republic of Azerbaijan, doctor of political science, professor Elchin Ahmadov as he commented on President Ilham Aliyev’s speech at the meeting of Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to results of socioeconomic development of 2018 and objectives for future.

Elchin Ahmadov mentioned that during the meeting President Ilham Aliyev said: “2018 was a successful year for our country. Regardless of the developments that unfolded in the world and in our region, Azerbaijan developed successfully and rapidly.”

Noting last year was successful for Azerbaijan in terms of the foreign policy, President Ilham Aliyev emphasized: “Good relations with neighbors is a very important factor for any country. Azerbaijan is one of the countries that managed to establish excellent relations with all its neighbors except for Armenia by pursuing a thought-out policy, and we benefit from these relations.”

Speaking about the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the head of state underlined: “Our position remains unchanged. This issue must be resolved only within the framework of the territorial integrity of our country. The resolutions of the UN Security Council must be implemented and Armenian armed forces must unconditionally withdraw from our occupied lands.

The process of continuing the negotiations has begun despite the fact that the new leadership of Armenia tried to evade them at the initial stage. There were even thoughts that Azerbaijan should conduct negotiations with the self-styled “Nagorno-Karabakh republic”. We immediately rejected such attempts. Of course, the mediators dealing with the conflict also could not support such an incomprehensible approach and expressed their opinion. The process of negotiations was eventually restored. Several meetings of foreign ministers have already taken place, and negotiations are being held between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Only this format of negotiations is acceptable.

Major changes took place in Armenia last year. The regime of the criminal junta that had illegally usurped power for over 20 years fell. And this was natural. This is a logical and bitter end of the criminal regime,” the Azerbaijani President said. Emphasizing that an important role in this issue, of course, is played by Armenia’s aggressive policy, President Ilham Aliyev said: “It is because of this policy that we have isolated Armenia from all regional projects. It is because of this occupying policy that Armenia’s economy has practically collapsed. Armenia is experiencing a profound demographic crisis. The process of depopulation, i.e. reduction of the population, has become widespread. Azerbaijan has proved to the world that its policy is correct. I have never concealed this policy and explicitly declared from various platforms that we will use all available means to isolate Armenia until our lands are liberated. This policy has yielded results, the criminal regime has collapsed and a new situation has arisen in Armenia.”

Noting that the regime of criminal and bloodthirsty junta has dominated Armenia for 20 years, the head of state underlined: “Unfortunately, certain international organizations have turned a blind eye to this. The question may be asked now: how can it be possible that international organizations gave positive assessments to the presidential and parliamentary elections held in Armenia with major falsifications in recent years? After all, the latest parliamentary elections showed that a group of people that had illegally seized power could not even get 5 percent of the vote. This is recognized by everyone. Why didn’t anyone condemn the criminal regime, which ascribed more than 50 percent of the votes to itself in previous years?! Why did the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and other international organizations ranting about democracy and justice turn a blind eye to this shameful picture?! Didn’t they know that all elections in Armenia were rigged? Didn’t they know that the Armenian people hated the criminal regime? They knew that perfectly well, but turned a blind eye to that. Why? Because of double standards. What for? It is likely that there were other issues related to their selfish goals. It is no secret for anyone that Armenia activated its “cognac diplomacy” in the international arena and bribed many politicians. In previous years, the factor of bribe was in the first place in Armenia’s foreign policy.

If a country which gained independence only 27 years ago is led by criminals for 20 years, then it is not too difficult to form an idea about this country. I have repeatedly said this and I want to say it again that there is one way for Armenia to come out of this difficult crisis – to normalize relations with Azerbaijan. We are ready for this. But, of course, there is one condition – Armenian armed forces must withdraw from our occupied lands.”

Pointing to Azerbaijan’s military potential the head of state said: “At the same time, of course, we paid great attention to our military potential last year, and there are impressive achievements in this area. The combat capability of our army is growing, and the Nakhchivan operation clearly confirmed this. As a result of the successful Nakhchivan operation, we now fully control 11,000 hectares of land. It was a very successful operation. At the same time, the occupied heights are of strategic importance. They allow us the opportunity to exercise full control over the road connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh. So this event, the Nakhchivan operation, shows again that the Azerbaijani people and the state will never put up with this occupation and will restore their territorial integrity by all means. There is simply hope for negotiations, this is why we still believe that the path of negotiations is the main remedy. At the same time, we are building up our military power. The work done to bolster our combat capability last year certainly deserves a very high assessment. The servicemen who distinguished themselves in the successful Nakhchivan operation have received relevant state awards.”

“Azerbaijan's stance on the settlement of the conflict is unambiguous. The problem must be resolved only within Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and internationally recognized borders of our country. This position is based on the principles and norms of international law, the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and numerous international documents on the conflict. In addition, documents of all international organizations demanding peaceful settlement of the conflict cement Azerbaijan's position and confirm that the problem must be solved based on the principles of international law. In this respect, four UN Security Council resolutions and decisions of the OSCE, Council of Europe and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation are also of pivotal importance and lay a legal framework for defending Azerbaijan's fair position on the international level,” Elchin Ahmadov added.