Ilham Aliyev: political settlement of Karabakh conflict must be backed by guarantees from world's leading countries

The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh should not go beyond the borders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in the interview broadcast on state TV's Channel One.

At the same time, the head of state emphasized that the conflict does not even extend to the territory of Armenia. "Despite the shelling from the Armenian territory, we do not inflict any strikes on the territory of Armenia, we do not cross over to the territory of Armenia, although we have all the opportunities to do this," he said.

Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan will return to the negotiating table when the phase of military confrontation ends. "By the way, from the very beginning of the hostilities, Azerbaijan said that we are not withdrawing from the negotiation process, we count on a political settlement, but it should be a settlement. We cannot sit and wait for another 30 years for the appropriate impact on Armenia," the president said.

Armenia is making attempts to internationalize the conflict, he said. "The Armenian side is trying to drag the CSTO into this confrontation, but unsuccessfully. It is trying to involve the European countries," the head of state said. "In essence, they are trying to internationalize this conflict, which is unacceptable to us," Ilham Aliyev said.

He also noted that the political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be backed up by guarantees from the world's leading countries, while their composition may not be limited to the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the United States.

"If we talk about peace, first of all I see it as a political settlement, which would be comprehensive, which would be long-term, eternal with serious guarantees from the leading countries, those countries that will be acceptable to both Azerbaijan and Armenia," the head of state explained. "The composition of these countries may be different than the composition of the Minsk Group and its co-chairs," the president said.

"Today, when the conflict has entered an active phase, it is clear who has the potential for a settlement," he said. "Those who have the potential for settlement, those whom Azerbaijan respects for dignity, justice, sincerity, so they will have to be guarantors of long-term peace," Ilham Aliyev said.

The Armenian armed forces committed a large-scale provocation, subjecting the positions of the Azerbaijani army to intensive shelling from large-caliber weapons, mortars, and artillery installations of various calibers in the front-line zone on Sept. 27 at 05:00 (Msk). The command of the Azerbaijani Army decided to launch a counter-offensive operation of Azerbaijani troops along the entire front to suppress the combat activity of the Armenian armed forces and ensure the safety of the civilian population. To date, the city of Jabrayil and most of the Jabrayil district, more than half of the Fizuli district were liberated in the south, and the strategically important Murovdag mountain and the so-called sixth fortified area around the village of Sugovushan in the north were liberated.