Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that his meeting with Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan in Munich on Sunday will be decisive in settling the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Meeting displaced people from occupied Kelbajar District on Friday, Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan was doing its utmost to achieve the liberation of its land.
"We are doing everything necessary to achieve the liberation of Azerbaijani land from the occupiers. The work done in negotiations, the strengthening of our economic potential, work to build the army, all this helps to increase Azerbaijan's power. If we are not strong, we won't be able to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, as international intervention has not produced any result," the president said.
15 years of negotiations on Karabakh have been ineffective and Azerbaijan does not intend to wait any longer
"In a few days I will have my next meeting with the Armenian president. We are going to the meeting with our own programme. This meeting must play a decisive role in the talks process, as there have been several meetings this year but they have produced no results. It this meeting is unproductive too, our hopes in the negotiations will be exhausted. And if our hopes in the negotiations are exhausted, we will be left with no alternative. We have to be ready for this too. The work over the past few years on building the army has a purpose of course. We are spending billions, strengthening our army, buying new weapons, hardware, reinforcing our positions on the contact line. We are doing this because we have never ruled out and do not rule our this option. We have the full right to liberate our lands militarily," the president said.
He asked how long Armenia will continue violating the norms of international law. "Today we are demonstrating our good intentions. Our participation in negotiations is a concession we have been making to the Armenians for 15 years and even longer. This is merely a suspension of war," Aliyev said.
He recalled that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe established the Minsk Group to settle the conflict in the early 1990s. “The Minsk Group was created for the liberation of our lands from occupation, not for the establishment of a the second Armenian state, Nagorno-Karabakh, in our ancient land.”
He said that the resolutions of the UN Security Council and other organizations demanding the withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijani lands are not executed and in these conditions Azerbaijan cannot wait any longer. “We want to settle the conflict through negotiations; we want to do it peacefully. But on the other hand, it is not right to be reconciled to this situation. How long will we accept it? We are still striving to settle this issue peacefully,” the president said.
We do not tell them ‘we will expel you from there and carry out ethnic cleansing’. We do not say this though the world witnessed the ethnic cleansing against us. Let everyone live where they live and return to where they used to live
He said that at a time when Azerbaijan has become a world leader in terms of economic growth rates, the crisis in Armenia is worsening and this may also influence the conflict settlement.
"But we need a result. We want them to leave our lands as soon as possible and on a goodwill basis. This will lead to peace. Then no one will say: 'Why does Azerbaijan raise its military potential?' Sometimes we hear some international circles asking why Azerbaijan is arming itself. It is not their business. It is our money. We use our own money and potential. What should we do? We must think seriously and take timely action,” he said.
The president said that Azerbaijan should strive for lasting, comprehensive settlement of the Karabakh issue. He said that Armenia's return of the districts around Nagorno-Karabakh will not completely solve the issue.
"We want our citizens to return to Nagorno-Karabakh, to Shusha. Shusha is our historical city. Without it, the problem will not be completely settled. Furthermore, we should ensure that agreements reached envision no possibility of any unpleasant moments in future."
The president repeated Azerbaijan's position that Armenia must first withdraw troops from all the occupied districts around Nagorno-Karabakh and then from Karabakh itself and all the refugees must return. "At the final stage the status of Nagorno-Karabakh can be decided. But we will say what this status will be. No-one can decide it without us. And, as I have said, we will never agree to independence for Nagorno-Karabakh. This is our principled position. This is my position at the talks."
"We lived on our land, including in Nagorno-Karabakh, Shusha and other villages. We must return there. Armenians, for example, have lived in Khankendi for more than 100 years, though they moved there only in the 19th century, and let them live there further. We do not tell them ‘do not live there’. We do not tell them ‘we will expel you from there and carry out ethnic cleansing’. We do not say this though the world witnessed the ethnic cleansing against us. Let everyone live where they live and return to where they used to live. Only after that will it be possible to attain peace," the president said.
The head of state noted that 15 years of negotiations on Karabakh have been ineffective and Azerbaijan does not intend to wait any longer for the settlement of the problem.
"This is impossible. Therefore, I want to say that this is our position. I say this before you and before the Azerbaijani people and I want everyone dealing with this issue to know that our patience is becoming exhausted. We will use our legal right. If Armenia wants a peaceful resolution of the issue, it should take serious steps and Azerbaijan should be freed from occupiers. Armenia is mistaken to think that the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh will be set aside and they will be able to deal with tackling other issues in other regions. This will never happen. The Nagorno-Karabakh issue is an important regional problem and no other problem will be settled without it. We will never accept that," Aliyev concluded.
Lala B.
News.Az