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Ilham Aliyev: April battles showed Armenia will be unable to continue occupation of Azerbaijani lands without foreign support

31 March 2017 12:10 (UTC +04:00)

The April battles have showed that Armenia will be unable to continue the occupation of Azerbaijani lands without foreign support,

said Azerbaijan’s President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev on Friday.

He made the remarks at a meeting with a group of servicemen on the anniversary of the April victory of the Azerbaijani army.

“Armenia has long spread myths about its army, claiming that their powerful army has gained a major victory. However, we do know what really happened back in the early 1990s,” said President Aliyev.

In that period, chaos and anarchy were prevailing in Azerbaijan, and there was a fierce struggle for power, noted the president.

“In 1992, the alliance between the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party and Musavat made a coup attempt. So we began losing our lands,” said Ilham Aliyev, adding. “Following the occupation of Shusha, Lachin in 1992, Kalbajar 1993, a geographical link was established between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. That’s when we lost our strategic positions.”

This was treason against state and people of Azerbaijan, said the president, stressing that Armenia and its backers took the advantage and occupied Azerbaijani lands thanks to foreign support and intervention.

“That’s part of our history and we know this. The younger generation must know it too,” he added.

President Aliyev continued: “Armenia’s leadership had been spreading myths. However, these myths were shattered by the April battles. It showed that Azerbaijan is the only country in the region with a powerful army. These battles showed that Armenia will be unable to continue the occupation of Azerbaijani lands. They had to admit this themselves.”