BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 4. The
Azerbaijani Army launched a counter-offensive operation, later
called the “Iron Fist”, on September 27, 2020, in response to the
large-scale provocation of the Armenian armed forces along the
frontline.
The 44-day second Karabakh war ended with the liberation of
Azerbaijan’s territories from nearly 30-year Armenian occupation
and the restoration of territorial integrity.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has been
interviewed by Al Arabiya TV channel.
Trend presents
the interview.
Host: So, what was a cold war in the past has become fierce
burning all over Azerbaijan and Armenia, a struggle which comes
back from the past and moves the sounds of the shelling.
Nagorno-Karabakh is in the headlines again and the word expands
outside it emits interventions from international parties and
warning of the holistic war which could turn to a regional war. The
means of the solution international preventions will be the topics
of our discussion with the president of Azerbaijan, President
Aliyev. So joining us from Baku, President Ilham Aliyev. Welcome,
sir.
President Ilham Aliyev: Thank you.
Host: President, we will start from these developments and the
crisis between Azerbaijan and Armenia. So, what is the threshold of
this escalation?
President Ilham Aliyev: On the 27th of September Armenia
launched a military attack on our military positions and civilians,
our civilians suffered from that. We have victims among civilians.
Information this morning was that 22 civilians were killed and 73
were wounded. Unfortunately, today we have dozens of wounded and
again killed people, our ordinary villagers. We had to respond, and
our response was adequate. We launched a counter-attack and as a
result of this counter-attack we managed to suppress the firing
positions of Armenia, which are situated on the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan. We managed to liberate some of the
territories, several villages and today we liberated the city of
Jabrayil which has been under Armenian occupation for 27 years. Our
successful military operation continues. And we are fully
determined to liberate our land, and to restore our territorial
integrity.
Host: President Aliyev, apparently things are getting out of
hand, or out of control between you and Armenia. This expansion in
the operations, military operations is there a limit for it?
President Ilham Aliyev: Well, I don’t think that things are
going out of control. It is under control of Azerbaijani army. We
are now in the offensive operation, our goal is to liberate our
territories. I made a proposal to mediators and also, I made an
appeal to Armenian people, to make responsible their government for
occupation and to stop occupation. If Armenia agrees on that, if
they will start liberating occupied territories which they keep
illegally under control for almost 30 years, the war will stop. We
don’t need war. We were in the process of negotiations since 1992.
And during this almost 30 years, there have been zero progress on
negotiation table. Armenia did not want to implement resolutions of
United Nations Security Council demanding full, immediate and
unconditional withdrawal from our territories. On the contrary,
their military political leadership was trying to occupy new lands.
They were trying to launch, and they actually did in July, they
launched a new military attack on Azerbaijan. So, we have to defend
ourselves, defend our people and restore internationally recognized
territory of Azerbaijan, which is recognized by all countries of
world.
Host: President Aliyev, if Armenia does not respond to this
initiative which you have presented, this escalation will continue
and there are no fear of the lives of the civilians and the cost
will be very high.
President Ilham Aliyev: Armenia is brutally violating the Geneva
convention, not only by using heavy artillery to bomb our cities
and villages, but also providing illegal resettlement of foreigners
to the occupied territories. We want our territories to be
liberated. We counted very much on the mediators. We have a mandate
to facilitate finding a solution between the two countries. But
instead of showing constructive approach on the negotiation table,
Armenia launched a military attack on us in July. And we gave them
adequate response. They sent the sabotage group which was planning
to commit terror acts and the head of the sabotage group was
detained and he gives evidence. And in September they launched
artillery bombardment on our villages and cities, and more than 500
hundred houses of ordinary Azerbaijanis, who live close to the area
of the conflict have been completely demolished or damaged.
Therefore, Armenia must stop these aggressive actions they must
commit to withdrawal of their troops from our territory. They must
give us a time-table, or withdrawal from occupied territories.
Their prime minister who said that ‘Karabakh is Armenia’ should now
say that ‘Karabakh is not Armenia’ and after that, of course, we
will be ready to put an end to hostility and to restore the
ceasefire regime.
Host: But president Aliyev, through Al Arabiya the Armenian
president talked about negotiations. He said that the solution is
through negotiations. What do you respond?
President Ilham Aliyev: I agree. I also think that the solution
is through negotiations but negotiations must have the substance.
Armenia saying that ‘Karabakh is Armenia’, their prime minster said
that, actually they destroy the principles on which the solution
should be found. Because OSCE Minsk Group, whose co-chairs are
Russia, United States and France, have elaborated for years during
the negotiations the principles of settlement. And the first step
in order to achieve the sustainable peace in our region, is the
liberation of occupied territories. And when Armenian prime
minister who came to power as a result of the coup d’etat two years
ago, as a result of the so-called revolution which was sponsored by
George Soros when he said that ‘Karabakh is Armenia’, he destroys
the negotiation substance. There is nothing to talk about.
Therefore, prime minister who is in charge in Armenia, must think
very seriously about his destructive behavior, about his actions
which led to military clash. We have been in the process of
negotiations for 28 years and I had an experience in negotiations
with the two former presidents of Armenia, and we were working in a
more or less acceptable manner in order to find solution. We were
making small steps but we were making steps. We were elaborating
jointly with mediators the principles which should be the basis for
settlement. And two years ago a person from the street who had no
experience in political life, who in his all life was not even the
head of a small company, who has no idea about geopolitics, who has
no idea about international relations, who comes and he starts to
destroy his own country and now Armenia is in crisis. He puts to
prison the head of the major political party. He launches criminal
investigation against two former presidents with whom I in
different periods worked on negotiation. He establishes completely
despotic regime, and destroys negotiation table. And what should we
do? He makes insulting statements against Azerbaijan. He makes
provocative steps and actually the mediators themselves were very
embarrassed with this strange, to put it mildly, behavior. He
destroys negotiation process. Therefore, I say, to go back to
negotiations, first, Armenian prime minister should say that
‘Karabakh is not Armenia’. Because ‘Karabakh is Armenia’ is lie.
Karabakh is Azerbaijan. He should say that he is committed to the
principles which have been elaborated for 20 years, which provide
return of occupied territories of Azerbaijan to us, to those who is
the owner of those lands. He should give us now, after he launched
this dirty military attack. He should give us a time-table of
withdrawal from our cities. And we are ready to stop fire.
Otherwise, we will do it by force, we will restore our territorial
integrity by force and we will show him his place.
President Aliyev, I cannot interrupt, because of the translation
but there are three points which I’d like to comment on your
answer. Number 1 – you were saying that Armenia is going through a
crisis but we see that the Armenian people supporting their
leadership and they salute how their leadership is trying to
preserve them or protect them. The second point, is the only
condition for Armenia to withdraw or retreat from saying that
Karabakh is Armenian or are there any conditions or preconditions
to go back at the negotiation table. And third, who are the
countries which the mediators spoke of who felt embarrassed?
President Ilham Aliyev: The countries I already said the OSCE
Minsk Group, the chairman of the Minsk Group of OSCE, Russia,
United States and France and during the last years of my
interaction with the representatives of this group, we had
opportunity to exchange views. And neither myself nor them actually
know what can be done in order to move negotiation forward. Because
you know, negotiation principles and negotiation format has been
established. It was not established unilaterally by Azerbaijan. It
was proposed by the mediators and accepted by two countries, by
Azerbaijan and Armenia. The format of negotiations is Azerbaijan
and Armenia. This is a conflict between two countries. Prime
Minister of Armenia said that is not a format which is acceptable.
Azerbaijan has to negotiate with the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh
republic”, which no country in the world recognizes, including
Armenia itself. So, that was a deliberate act in order to disrupt
negotiations because he knew that neither we, no mediators will
accept it. And mediators Russia, United States, and France rejected
this. Then, he said that ‘Karabakh is Armenia’ which none of his
predecessors did before. None of them, because it means end of
negotiations. Because the substance of negotiations is to return
the territories to Azerbaijan by peaceful means, through
negotiations. And then to provide the normal co-existence between
Azerbaijani and Armenian community in Nagorno-Karabakh, because
before the war, before Armenia occupied our territories, 25 percent
of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh were Azerbaijanis. But today,
not only Nagorno-Karabakh is occupied but seven districts
surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh where Armenian population did not
exist, but where there have been more than 700,000 Azerbaijanis.
All of them were expelled. All their houses are destroyed. All our
historical monuments, including our mosques are destroyed by
Armenian barbarians and now when we were coming closer to making a
progress there is a change in government in Armenia. The new
people, the new team has absolutely nothing to do with politics,
comes to power, makes this destructive statements and actions,
launches military aggression on us. What we were supposed to do? We
have to defend ourselves. That’s what we do and we will do it until
our territorial integrity is restored.
Host: President Ilham Aliyev Russia and France also sent
accusations to you in addition to for example Syrian mercenaries
through Turkey. How do you respond to that?
President Ilham Aliyev: We reject it completely. I had received
two phone calls from French president during this last ten days, or
last week and I told him that give us evidence. There is not a
single evidence of the so-called Syrian fighters on our territory.
I asked him when he called me on 27 September, and since that time
I don’t have any evidence. If they have this evidence why they
didn’t provided to us. Then, when he called me couple of days ago,
he raised this issue again. He said that they have intelligence
information. I said share it with us. It’s not appropriate to
accuse a country without providing any evidence and proof. Today I
don’t have any single evidence from France about this unacceptable
accusation. There is no foreign fighters on Azerbaijani soil and I
told French president that our army is almost 100 thousand people.
What we do now on the battle field is showed in internet, everybody
can see how our modern drones destroy Armenian tanks and anti-air
systems. Our army is liberating one village after another. Our flag
is being raised on the territories which had been under occupation
for so many years. So these accusations are absolutely groundless.
Another thing which I can tell you that Armenians make another fake
news as if Turkish F-16 shot down Armenian SU-25. And that was fake
news. That fake news was introduced into the media, European
politicians started to exploit this fake information, and now, when
it is proven that it didn’t happen, no one even apologized. I
demand apology from those who accuse us. I demand them to be
responsible, to control what they say. We are not a country which
will tolerate accusation. We are not a country which will tolerate
insult. If we start saying what we think, I think there will be a
lot of turbulence in those countries. They should leave Azerbaijan
alone. They should leave the region alone. We here on our land, our
land is occupied. If France wants self-determination for
Nagorno-Karabakh let them give city of Marseille which is almost
half inhabited by Armenians and let them announce Nagorno-Karabakh
republic. And let them give them independence. Let’s give
independence to Corsica. Let give independence to Basques. Why they
demand independence for Nagorno-Karabakh from us. What right do
they have to demand it from us? They should stop these accusations,
they should stop attacking Azerbaijan and damaging our image. And
if we will start to talk about mercenaries and terrorists, I think
those who accuse us, will find themselves in very embarrassing
position. They better look to the mirror first, before accusing
us.
Host: In any case, some consider that if this crisis expands
then your lands could turn into a battlefield for struggles where
you have no benefit from, like a proxy war on your land. Don’t you
hear that? It could become a struggle of the region
President Ilham Aliyev: No. There is no proxy war. Azerbaijan is
an independent country. Our independence is recognized by the all
international community. Azerbaijan has a very strong position on
international arena. I can only give you two examples of our
achievements. Several years ago with the support of 155 countries
Azerbaijan was elected to United Nations Security Council. That’s
because of our independent policy and because of our country being
very responsible member of international community. This year we
had a Summit of Non-Alignment Movement in Baku with the
participation of 120 countries. And Azerbaijan assumed chairmanship
in Non-Aligned Movement. Unanimous decision of 120 countries were
to award Azerbaijan with this honorable duty. Can proxy country get
this support? Proxy countries are miserable. No one respects them.
No one pays attention to them. Today Azerbaijani word is important
for the world. Today without Azerbaijan no project in the region,
political, economic, energy, transportation can be achieved. And
those who tell us proxy, they are proxy themselves. Let them look
at the mirror. They are used to look to the countries from top to
the down. We are not in that position. We defend our dignity, we
defend our independence. No country in the world has a right to
interfere into our affairs as they should understand it. It is in
the interests of Azerbaijan to restore its territorial integrity,
millions people of Azerbaijanis are waiting for their time to go
back to their native land, and we the government will provide it.
We will return our people to their homeland, we will restore our
cities, restore our villages. We will raise the flag of Azerbaijan
on all the occupied territories.
Host: President Aliyev, Europe says that there is no solution
for this crisis between you and Armenia, no military solution. How
do you respond to that, for this European position?
President Ilham Aliyev: I hear a lot about – there is no
military solution to the conflict. First, I do not agree with that.
Second, okay, if there is no military solution, give us
non-military solution. Give us diplomatic solution, comply with the
United Nations Security Council resolutions. They were adopted by
the highest international body of the world. And those resolutions
demand, withdrawal of Armenian troops without any conditions from
occupied territories. And we have been in negotiations since 1992,
and during these 28 years had there been any diplomatic solution?
Did mediators or other international organizations provide us with
the political solution? No. They made this conflict frozen but it
is not frozen. So, how long we are going to wait? Another 30 years?
How long Armenians will continue to sit on our land and not allow
our people to go back to their homes. If international community
cannot provide implementation of international resolutions,
Azerbaijan will do it itself. That’s what is happening. And once
again, I tell all those who want to facilitate, and also, Armenian
leadership until it’s too late, stop occupation now. Make a
statement, that you accept principles of the settlement. You accept
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, you give us a time-table for
withdrawal from all occupied territories, and prime minister of
Armenia, who on Azerbaijani territories said that ‘Karabakh is
Armenia’ should apologize in front of Azerbaijani people and he
should say ‘Karabakh is not Armenia’ and then, we will stop.
Host: President Aliyev, one last word, after all which you have
mentioned to Armenia, is there anything else would you like to say
through our news channel to the Armenian people and all those
officials in Armenia.
President Ilham Aliyev: You know, a couple of days ago, I
visited the wounded Azerbaijani soldiers who suffered from Armenian
attack. Speaking to them, I made an appeal to Armenian people. And
I understood that for them what I was saying was not something very
common. That’s not probably the only thing which they wanted to
hear. Because they were almost killed by Armenians. Sitting in
front of them and expressing my gratitude to them, to their parents
that they grew such heroes for us, I said, my appeal is also to
Armenian people. Make responsible your government for what it has
done. Don’t send your children to Azerbaijan, don’t send your
children to occupied territories. Today, 90 percent of the
so-called Nagorno-Karabakh army, consists of Armenian citizens.
Stop this occupation. Leave Azerbaijani territory. Live on your own
land and we will then have peace. We will try again to restore
normal relations which Azerbaijani and Armenian people had before.
We will try. It will be not easy. But we will try to be neighbors,
to live side by side. That is my, how to say, word to Armenian
people. To Armenian government, I have nothing to say. I just
already said what they have to do. If they want ceasefire, I
already said apologize in front of us, give us a time-table of
withdrawal. Not just words that we will stop it and we will
negotiate. It will not work. Time-table day one, day two, day
three, when they liberate which territory, and prime minister of
Armenia who insulted the feelings of Azerbaijanis dancing on our
sacred land of Shusha with his gang and saying that ‘Karabakh is
Armenia’ should apologize and say that ‘Karabakh is not Armenia’.
That’s my word.
Host: President of Azerbaijan, thank you very much for joining
us from Baku. Thank you very much, President.
President Ilham Aliyev: Thank you.
