President: UN Security Council permanent members leading Minsk Group wanted to stop us

"We expelled the enemy from our lands and restored our territorial integrity. Leading up to that, we built a strong economy, established a powerful army, strengthened patriotic spirit in society, and effectively succeeded in leading Azerbaijan out of international isolation. During the Second Garabagh War, despite all the pressure exerted on us, none of it yielded results, even though the number of those wanting to stop us was quite high," President Ilham Aliyev said at a meeting with residents in the city of Zangilan, Report informs.

"First of all, there were the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. Each of those countries wanted to stop us for its own reasons. Throughout the 44 days, pressure was repeatedly placed on us. Those countries are not ordinary states-they are nuclear powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council. Look at who we were facing. Each of them was doing its utmost to make this occupation permanent, to use it as a tool, and ultimately to deny the Azerbaijani people the opportunity to breathe freely. Not only them, but other countries as well did not want our victory," Ilham Aliyev said.

"To demonstrate strong resolve in the face of such pressure, to tell them that it was a matter of 'do or die' for us and that we would never turn back from our path, certainly required immense determination. Just as in 1993, the support of the people was necessary. That support existed, and our entire nation united as one fist. That gave me strength. We had no intention of stopping until the very end-until the liberation of Shusha," the Azerbaijani leader added.