On June 17th, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the Iftar ceremony on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, which was held at the residence of Chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade. The head of state delivered a speech, saying representatives of all nationalities and religions living in the country, are united in their desire to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as soon as possible. Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan have been under occupation of Armenian forces for more than 20 years. Despite four UN Security Council resolutions, numerous statements by the OSCE Minsk Group and world leaders who demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the territories of Azerbaijan, the Armenian side continues to ignore the international law, and continue to do everything to delay the negotiations process, maintaining the status quo during many years.
However, Ilham Aliyev emphatically declared that those who believe that Azerbaijan will continue senseless negotiations in the next twenty years are drastically wrong. "For many years, a part of the territory of Azerbaijan has been under occupation. Our lands are captured. A policy of ethnic cleansing is being carried out against our people, including the Khojaly genocide. According to reports by the OSCE fact-finding mission, all buildings are destroyed in the occupied lands. Armenians destroyed our historic buildings, tombs and mosques. This is unprecedented brutality. The Armenian Church is located in the center of Baku in Azerbaijan. Nobody even touched it. On the contrary, it was renovated. Azerbaijan builds churches, synagogues and mosques. That’s the difference,’’ the head of the state said, expressing confidence that each citizen of Azerbaijan is doing every possible thing every day for the speedy resolution of this issue.
In addition to the civilized attitude to culture and religion of its neighbor, Azerbaijan has extremely high level of economy development and social sphere in comparison with Armenia. "Azerbaijan has achieved great advantages in all spheres, and it will never miss it. The difference between Armenia and Azerbaijan will increase in all fields. Because we are moving on they of development. We have a very clear and precise views and programs for the future. Armenia won’t not survive without foreign donations. It reflects their economic situation. The April events proved this fact. So we know about our power and rely on it. I have already mentioned that we are aware of our military power, only a small part of our military potential was demonstrated during the April fightings. I think it was a good lesson for the Armenian leadership. At the same time it was the signal for the intermediaries and the world community that it is not a frozen conflict. If someone believes that we will continue senseless talks in the next twenty years he is mistaken. We do not intend to conduct senseless negotiations. We will not negotiate for the sake of imitation. We should begin immediate unconditional sensible and substantive talks. In this case, we will be able to approach a peaceful solution,’’ President Aliyev said once again, recalling that the international law protects the position of Azerbaijan. Moreover, historical justice is also on the side of the Azerbaijani people. Thus, there are all the necessary basis for the beginning of the process of de-occupation of Azerbaijani lands.
‘’In recent times, the mediators were involved in this issue, their senior officials noted that the conflict should be resolved in the near future, the status quo is unacceptable and must be changed. We have positive attitude towards this viewpoint. But we have heard such statements before about the unacceptability of the status quo, but no actions were taken after those statements. It is time to take concrete steps. A very serious pressure should be put on the occupier in order to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. We support this sequence of events and we have always been supporters of it,’’ Ilham Aliyev said, once again making it clear that all those who groundlessly accuse Azerbaijan of intending to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict solely by military means are wrong because the original premise for a peaceful settlement of the conflict came precisely from the Azerbaijani side.
According to Ilham Aliyev, after the April events the international mediators intensified their work on resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. The meeting of Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan took place in the Austrian capital, Vienna in May. According to President Aliyev, next week the meeting is to take place in St. Petersburg. "We hope that the solution can and must be found to the issue by means of peaceful means. Armenia should abandon its aggressive policy and liberate our lands in order to achieve this goal. I want to note once again that there is a consensus on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in the Azerbaijani society. April events united a lot of our people. The Azerbaijani people showed tremendous support to the state and our army, resistance, and the level of our people,’’ the head of state concluded.
Recall that in early June, President of Azerbaijan visited Berlin where he held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the form of a joint press conference. Once again he expressed support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the hope that the conflict will be resolved in the near future on the basis of the international law.
