Ilham Aliyev at Munich Conference (EXCLUSIVE)

 

Ilham Aliyev at the Munich Conference (EXCLUSIVE)Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke today about the main reasons for the lack of resolution on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the round table "Outside Ukraine: unresolved conflicts in Europe" at the Munich conference. According to him, the key reason is the lack of political will of the international community to pressure the aggressor.First of all, he stressed that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has began to attract more international attention only in the last year, after the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis. "this tragic situation in Ukraine draws attention to other conflicts, protracted conflicts which last for many years. In our case, [the] conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has a history of more than twenty years. It started actually even before the collapse of [the] Soviet Union, after the collapse of [the] Soviet Union it aggravated and it resulted in [the] occupation of internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan. 20 % of the territories [are] under occupation and Nagorno-Karabakh which is a historic part of Azerbaijan is occupied. All Azerbaijan has been expelled from Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 districts where 700,000 people live are also occupied by Armenia. Everything is destroyed there and we are in the process of negotiations for more than 20 years, without any result. OSCE is dealing with that, OSCE has a special group which is called Minsk Group co-chaired by 3 permanent members of the UN Security Council (France, Russian and the United States). And for more than 22 years now this group is active, but with any results," Ilham Aliyev said.According to the president of Azerbaijan, there is a lack of international pressure on Armenia. "What we see sometimes [is] that resolutions of [the] UN Security Council are implemented within days if not hours. In our case there are four resolutions of [the] Security Council of the United Nations adopted in [the] beginning of [the] 90s - none of them are implemented. I think [the] lack of political will on behalf of the mediators to impose adequate pressure on aggressor is the real, final result of what we have today. Because Armenia is a largely dependent country, this country is not self-sufficient, they cannot develop and even their statehood is under question, without external support to Armenia they cannot function and they get external support mainly from the countries which are co-chairs to the Minsk Group and this is a paradox. And we see here double standards and that is what ensures disappointment and I'd like to say that all the conflicts in the post-Soviet area must be treated from the same angle. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has the same value as the territorial integrity of Ukraine which is now everyone talking about," he explained.Responding to a question from a representative of Armenia, who accused Azerbaijan of firing at the positions of the Armenian army and increasing tension on the front line and said: "If you want to resolve the conflict, then my message to you is stop shooting!", Ilham Aliyev said that such are the tactics of the Armenian side - to always blame  Azerbaijan. "Armenia has occupied our territory, violated international law, committed genocide in Khojaly, destroyed our historical and religious monuments, but it shift the blame on us. The question is, what are Armenian soldiers doing in the occupied territories? What have Armenian soldiers forgotten in Agdam? If he does not want to be killed, then he shouldn't go to Agdam. Let him stay in his Yerevan, Gyumri, in his own country. You have enough space for yourselves in the country, there are, in fact, not so many people left. So what are you doing in Agdam, what are you doing in Fizuli?" the president of Azerbaijan said.As an example, he talked about events of the past year. "Year of 2014 was generally remarkable in terms of the activity of intermediaries in the negotiations. President Putin organized a meeting between President Sargsyan and me in in August. Already in September, Secretary of State [John] Kerry organized a round of negotiations with the Armenian president and me. Finally, at the end of October, President Hollande invited us to Paris, where we had, I would say, an excellent, very constructive meeting. Both parties then stated that they considered this meeting a great success and will try to reduce tension on the frontline. What happened then? After less than ten days, Armenia began military exercises on the occupied territories, particularly in Agdam, with the participation, according to the Armenian media, of 47 thousand soldiers. They organized maneuvers in the occupied territory with the use of military equipment, aircrafts, helicopters. For three days our army remained patient enough not to respond, but then Armenia with the help of its Mi-24 helicopters attacked Azerbaijan's position. Our army had to respond and one of the helicopters was shot down. For Armenia, it was an occasion to accuse Azerbaijan. With this provocation, it showed disrespect to the leaders of France, Russia and the United States that have taken so much effort to reduce tensions. Armenia thinks they can do anything, and no one will punish them. This is the main reason behind Armenia's behavior," Ilham Aliyev said."Now they are blaming us, saying, Do not shoot!. So, my message to Armenia is: end the occupation," he said. At the same time Ilham Aliyev drew attention to the existing possibility to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and achieve reconciliation. "Those who committed crimes during the war, such as the tragedy in Khojaly should at least apologize and admit them, so that they would not repeat. If it happens, I am convinced that sooner or later the peace will be established and our nations will live peacefully together. This is possible, because we've lived before as neighbors, we had a lot of mixed marriages and there was no animosity. 200 thousand of Armenians lived in Baku, and today in the center of the city we have a renovated Armenian church. At the same time, Azerbaijani mosques in Shusha and Agdam were completely destroyed. Yes, all of this should not have taken place, but now they have to admit that it was a mistake, apologize, and then we will, of course, establish peace," he said.

 

 

 

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke today about the main reasons for the lack of a resolution on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the round-table discussion "Outside Ukraine: unresolved conflicts in Europe" at the Munich conference. According to him, the key reason is the lack of political will of the international community to put pressure on the aggressor.
First of all, he stressed that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has began to attract more international attention only in the last year, after the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis. "This tragic situation in Ukraine draws attention to other conflicts, protracted conflicts which have lasted for many years. In our case, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has a history of more than twenty years. It started actually even before the collapse of the Soviet Union, after the collapse of the Soviet Union it aggravated and it resulted in the occupation of internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan. 20% of the territories are under occupation and Nagorno-Karabakh, which is a historic part of Azerbaijan, is occupied. All Azerbaijanis have been expelled from Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 districts where 700,000 people live are also occupied by Armenia. Everything is destroyed there and we have been in the process of negotiations for more than 20 years, without any result. The OSCE is dealing with that, the OSCE has a special group which is called the Minsk Group, co-chaired by 3 permanent members of the UN Security Council (France, Russia and the United States). And for more than 22 years now this group has been active, but without any results," Ilham Aliyev said.
According to the president of Azerbaijan, there is a lack of international pressure on Armenia. "What we see sometimes is that resolutions of the UN Security Council are implemented within days, if not hours. In our case there are four resolutions of the Security Council of the United Nations adopted at the beginning of the 90s - none of them have been implemented. I think the lack of political will on behalf of the mediators to impose adequate pressure on the aggressor is the real, final result of what we have today. Because Armenia is a largely dependent country, this country is not self-sufficient, they cannot develop and even their statehood is under question, without external support for Armenia they cannot function and they get external support mainly from the countries which are co-chairs of the Minsk Group and this is a paradox. And we see here double standards, and that is what ensures disappointment, and I'd like to say that all the conflicts in the post-Soviet area must be treated from the same angle. The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan has the same value as the territorial integrity of Ukraine, which is now what everyone is talking about," he explained.
Responding to a question from a representative of Armenia, who accused Azerbaijan of firing at the positions of the Armenian army and increasing tension on the front line and said: "If you want to resolve the conflict, then my message to you is stop shooting!", Ilham Aliyev said that such are the tactics of the Armenian side - always to blame Azerbaijan."Armenia has occupied our territory, violated international law, committed genocide in Khojaly, destroyed our historical and religious monuments, but it shifts the blame to us. The question is, what are Armenian soldiers doing in the occupied territories? What have Armenian soldiers forgotten in Agdam? If he does not want to be killed, then he shouldn't go to Agdam. Let him stay in his Yerevan, Gyumri, in his own country. You have enough space for yourselves in the country, there are, in fact, not so many people left. So what are you doing in Agdam, what are you doing in Fizuli?" the president of Azerbaijan asked.
As an example, he talked about the events of the past year. "The year 2014 was generally remarkable in terms of the activity of intermediaries in the negotiations. President Putin organized a meeting between President Sargsyan and me in August. Already in September, Secretary of State [John] Kerry organized a round of negotiations with the Armenian president and me. Finally, at the end of October, President Hollande invited us to Paris, where we had, I would say, an excellent, very constructive meeting. Both parties then stated that they considered this meeting a great success and will try to reduce tension on the frontline. What happened then? After less than ten days, Armenia began military exercises on the occupied territories, particularly in Agdam, with the participation, according to the Armenian media, of 47 thousand soldiers. They organized manoeuvres in occupied territory with the use of military equipment, aircraft and helicopters. For three days our army remained patient enough not to respond, but then Armenia with the help of its Mi-24 helicopters attacked Azerbaijan's position. Our army had to respond and one of the helicopters was shot down. For Armenia, it was an occasion to accuse Azerbaijan. With this provocation, it showed disrespect to the leaders of France, Russia and the United States that have made so much effort to reduce tensions. Armenia thinks itcan do anything, and no one will punish it. This is the main reason behind Armenia's behavior," Ilham Aliyev said.
"Now they are blaming us, saying, Do not shoot!. So, my message to Armenia is: end the occupation," he said. 
At the same time, Ilham Aliyev drew attention to the existing possibility of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and achieve reconciliation. "Those who committed crimes during war, such as the tragedy in Khojaly, should at least apologize and admit them, so that they are not repeated. If this happens, I am convinced that sooner or later peace will be established and our nations will live peacefully together. This is possible, because we've lived before as neighbors, we had a lot of mixed marriages and there was no animosity. 200 thousand Armenians lived in Baku, and today in the center of the city we have a renovated Armenian church. At the same time, Azerbaijani mosques in Shusha and Agdam were completely destroyed. Yes, all of this should not have taken place, but now they have to admit that it was a mistake, apologize, and then we will, of course, establish peace," he said.