Nagorno Garabagh

Baku – APA. Blaming Azerbaijan for unwillingness to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict would be injustice, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said on Friday.

He made the remarks at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of socio-economic development in the nine months of 2016 and future objectives.

Recalling the great military victory Azerbaijan achieved in April of this year, the president noted that the April fighting is a glorious page in the country’s history.

“The Azerbaijani army liberated parts of Aghdere, Fuzuli, and Jabrayil from the invaders, raising Azerbaijan’s flag in those lands,” said Ilham Aliyev. “More than 2,000 hectares of lands were liberated from the invaders, and another area larger than them came under our control.”

The Azerbaijani army has gained complete superiority along the contact line and is able to eliminate any target on the enemy side, he added.

The head of state said the mediators have become more active since the April fighting.

“You know there were meetings in May and June. But now we are in the month of October,” the president said and noted that resorting to its dirty tactics and relying on the lobby’s support, Armenia wants to distract the world’s attention from this issue.

“We must not allow this and the conflict has to be resolved as soon as possible,” he added.

“But both you and the Azerbaijani community know that Armenia alone is not to blame for this issue still being unsolved. The Armenians has great supporters, offering them money, weapon, lobbyist support, etc. This is why the issue has not been resolved,” said Ilham Aliyev, calling for a clarification of this issue.

The president pointed out that Azerbaijan is faced with double standards and failure to resolve the conflict does not earn the UN Security Council any honor.

“The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions, which have been unfulfilled for more than 20 years. At least they should respect their own decisions. Now we can clearly see how Armenia violates international law,” he said.

Azerbaijan remains committed to a peaceful resolution to the conflict and is making efforts in this direction, the president noted.

“You’re probably aware of Washington’s recent statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Azerbaijani public knows about is as well. This is a surprising statement, to put it mildly,” said Ilham Aliyev.

Blaming Azerbaijan for unwillingness to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict would be injustice, he emphasized.

“How does this statement coincide with other ones?!” said the president, reminding that there is a thesis that the US, Russian and French presidents have repeatedly voiced: The status quo is unacceptable”.

“We laud this. It is true that no practical work is being conducted despite this thesis, but anyway, the emergence of this thesis is our great success,” he said. “With the existence of such a serious statement, saying ‘both sides are guilty, the sides are not ready for this, this issue is complicated even more than the Palestine-Israel conflict’ is simply a support to the occupation policy of Armenia. There is no other explanation for this.”

“It is true that there are various statements nowadays, they are ripped out of the context and are not understood correctly. We understand everything very well. We live in the age of internet. When something is said somewhere, it immediately echoes. We don’t accept such statements,” said President Aliyev.

“We believe these statements should be corrected soon at the highest level,” he added. “Otherwise, the mediating mission can be called into doubt.”

He also said the statement from the US was a thesis voiced only officially.

“There are so many talks behind the closed doors. We face so many pressures for Azerbaijan to give its consent on independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh. We don’t announce them, because diplomacy has its own rules,” said Ilham Aliyev.

He also mentioned the smear, slander and insult campaigns conducted by the Western media and non-governmental organizations, as well as the instructions given to the fifth column in Azerbaijan to use those campaigns against the country. The president said the reason for all this is to make Azerbaijan give its consent on the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“This will never happen. As long as we are governing the country – and the referendum showed that we will govern it for a long time – Azerbaijan will not agree with this. Nagorno-Karabakh is our inseparable historical land and we have to restore our territorial integrity,” added President Aliyev.