Baku, September 28, AZERTAC

On the initiative of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, a meeting through videoconferencing has today been held between him and President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

President Ilham Aliyev provided information about the military provocation committed by Armenia against Azerbaijan yesterday, AZERTAC reports. He noted that on 27 September, Armenia used heavy artillery to fire on the positions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces and settlements located along the line of contact. As a result of the attack, Azerbaijani civilians and servicemen were killed. The Azerbaijani side is conducting a successful counter-offensive operation in self-defense.

The head of state emphasized that this was not the first time the Armenian side had committed a military provocation. In particular, the occupying country perpetrated a similar provocation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border in July this year and then, in August, an Armenian sabotage group attempted to cross the line of contact. At the same time, Armenia is illegally resettling foreign nationals from other countries in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, which represents a flagrant violation of international law under the Geneva Convention.

The President of Azerbaijan also noted that the Armenian prime minister had created armed groups of volunteers consisting of tens of thousands of civilians who were being forced to take part in military operations against Azerbaijan.

During the conversation, President Ilham Aliyev said he had talked about Armenia's preparations for a new war in his speech at the general debates of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly.

The head of state said that the Armenian leadership was deliberately disrupting the negotiations. The statement of the Armenian leadership that "Nagorno-Karabakh is Armenia" dealt a serious blow to the talks. The statement that "Azerbaijan should hold talks with Nagorno-Karabakh" is an attempt to change the format of the talks, which is also unacceptable, as confirmed by the leadership of the Minsk Group.

President Ilham Aliyev said that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be resolved only within the framework of international law and the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, on the basis of relevant UN Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied territories.

During the conversation, the sides also recalled the Special Session of the UN General Assembly in response to COVID-19 initiated by Azerbaijan, and the head of state thanked the UN Secretary General for supporting this initiative. President Ilham Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan would continue to spare no efforts in the international arena to combat COVID-19.

The issues related to the prospects for cooperation between Azerbaijan and the UN were also discussed during the meeting in a videoconference format.