Ilham Aliyev: There is currently no territorial unit named Nagorno-Karabakh

“Another provocative step was the swearing-in of the illegal junta, the former head of the Nagorno-Karabakh regime, in the ancient Azerbaijani city of Shusha, our cultural capital. This was an insult to the Azerbaijani people,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said March 31 at an informal Summit of the Cooperation Council of the Turkic-Speaking States (Turkic Council) in a video conference format, Report informs referring to AzerTag.

“The relocation of the so-called parliament of the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” to Shusha and the construction of a building for the parliament – which will now be knocked down – were another provocative step. In other words, all these steps showed that Armenia was provoking us, was counting on a harsh response from us in order to blame us afterwards and try to delay the issue for another 30 years. We did not succumb to the provocation. We acted with restraint, in accordance with all the norms and principles of international law, but Armenia committed a military provocation against us last summer. Our positions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border came under fire. Armenian military units tried to cross our border, and several of our servicemen were killed. We responded to them, pushed them back but we did not cross the Armenian-Azerbaijani border,” the Azerbaijani president noted.

“The military conflict that lasted for several days stopped because we did not intend to wage war on the territory of Armenia. However, if we had wanted, we could have easily entered the territory of Armenia. A month later, in August, a new provocation was committed when a sabotage group was sent to Azerbaijan. The leader of the subversive group was detained and testified that he was sent to Azerbaijan to carry out acts of terror – so this was another provocation. Finally, in late September, our military positions and settlements came under artillery fire, and several of our servicemen and civilians were killed. Naturally, we responded adequately, conducted a counter-offensive and punished the enemy. The 44-day Karabakh war resulted in a complete victory for Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan regained its territorial integrity, more than 300 towns and villages were liberated on the battlefield during the war. Our historic city of Shusha was liberated from the occupiers on 8 November and Armenia was forced to sign an act of capitulation,” he added.

“In the early hours of 10 November, the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia and the prime minister of Armenia signed a statement. Based on this statement, our other districts were returned to Azerbaijan through political means. So, issue was resolved by both military and political means. It is safe to say that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been resolved. There is currently no territorial unit named Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan has resolved this issue, achieved a historic victory and started restoration work in the destroyed areas,” Ilham Aliyev said.