Ilham Aliyev: meetings in Sochi and Prague showed that Karabakh conflict is over

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, speaking at the IX summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Samarkand, said that despite the end of the 44-day war, Armenia continues military aggression against Azerbaijan.

"Despite the Second Karabakh War ended two years ago, Armenia continues to carry out military provocations on the border with Azerbaijan. The last provocation was committed in September this year, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces were forced to launch a counter-offensive operation to prevent a large-scale military provocation by Armenia," he said.

The head of the republic emphasized that Yerevan unreasonably accuses Baku of aggression in order to mislead the world community.

"We categorically reject such unfounded accusations. We fought on our own land and, having defeated the Armenian army, drove it out of our historical lands", the president said, reminding that the Azerbaijani army is currently deployed on its native land on the border.

Ilham Aliyev also noted that during the meetings in Prague and Sochi, the heads of Azerbaijan and Armenia recognized the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the two states in joint statements, thus emphasizing that the Karabakh conflict is a thing of the past. At the same time, the president said that, despite the end of the 30-year occupation, its serious consequences continue to remain.

"Nine cities of Azerbaijan and hundreds of villages were razed to the ground by Armenia. During the period of occupation of these territories, Armenia completely destroyed 65 out of 67 mosques, the remaining two mosques were seriously damaged and pigs and cattle were kept in them. This is an insult to the entire Muslim world", the head of state added.

In addition to this, he pointed out that about 270 Azerbaijani citizens had suffered from the actions of Yerevan in the two years after the end of the occupation, recalling that Armenia installed over 1 million mines over 30 years.

Ilham Aliyev invited his colleagues to visit the liberated territories - Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur. "This week, the Azerbaijani people solemnly celebrated the second anniversary of the liberation of Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur from Armenian occupation. Two years ago, we put an end to the 30-year occupation of Azerbaijani territories, restored historical justice and international law. Azerbaijan also independently implemented the resolutions of the UN Security Council," the president said, reporting on the large-scale restoration work in the liberated territories.