President: EU accepts post-conflict realities
President Ilham Aliyev has said that the European Union, international organizations and neighbours have accepted the realities of the period following the war with Armenia in 2020.
He made the remarks at a meeting dedicated to the results of the first quarter of 2022.
“Our contacts with the European Union have intensified after the war. The European Union has also accepted the realities of the post-conflict period. At the initiative of the President of the European Council, Mr. Charles Michel, trilateral meetings were held in December [2021] and April [2022]," Aliyev said.
Aliyev emphasized that the final communiqué issued in Brussels on April 6 did not include the term "Nagorno-Karabakh."
“Both the experts and the Azerbaijani public could see that the final communiqué did not contain the expression ‘Nagorno-Karabakh’, which is quite natural. Because Azerbaijan expressed its protest, so there is no word ‘conflict’ either. This is natural because there is no conflict. The conflict has been resolved,” he said.
The president underlined the world's leading international organizations have recognized the new realities as well.
“First of all, an international event has recently been held in Shusha under the UN auspices - an event dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Azerbaijan’s membership in the UN. It was a very significant event. It showed yet again that the UN is a body that fully recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan,” he said.
Furthermore, Aliyev stated that all neighboring countries have accepted the new post-conflict realities, which he described as a very positive development.
“At the same time, we are pleased with the launch of the 3+3 cooperation format. The first such meeting has been held. There was no agenda for the first meeting, as it was simply a meeting to create this format. We have plans for the second meeting and [agenda] what issues should be discussed there,” he said.
Armenia accepts five principles
He said that the European Union is now working on normalizing Azerbaijani-Armenian relations and added that these issues were discussed at the April meeting.
The president emphasized that Armenia welcomed Azerbaijan's proposal to normalize relations between the two countries, which consisted of five principles.
“Armenia accepts the five principles. So the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is recognized and Armenia renounces its territorial claims to Azerbaijan. In other words, if it accepts the five principles – as it was confirmed at the April meeting – then these are part of these five principles,” he said.
The president underlined that this is a key condition for normalizing bilateral relations. He also added that it was agreed that working groups would be formed on the border issues and the preparation of a peace agreement. In this regard, he noted that the working groups to be set up by late April should start their work soon.
“As you know, the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia have recently had a telephone conversation, which I think was the first time it happened in the last 30 years. We also welcome that,” Aliyev said.
OSCE Minsk Group
Aliyev stressed that the OSCE has fully accepted the new realities.
“I recently had a meeting with the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, and the meeting once again showed that the OSCE also fully accepts the new realities, and this is a very significant event,” he said.
He recalled that immediately after the war, the Minsk Group cochairs arrived in Baku, adding that it was their first and last visit to Azerbaijan after the war.
Noting that Azerbaijan’s position has always been unequivocal, Aliyev underlined that Azerbaijan had resolved this conflict on its own.
“The Minsk Group was active for 28 years before the second Karabakh war. The co-chair countries have probably made hundreds of visits to Azerbaijan and Armenia over the years. The result is obvious. The result was zero,” he said.
The president added that while the mandate given to the Minsk Group to resolve the conflict is de jure in force, it is already de facto invalid.
“Under the current circumstances, the Minsk Group and its co-chairs are virtually non-functional. This has already been stated by high-ranking officials of these co-chair countries. Therefore, of course, there can be no talk of any group activity,” he said.
He emphasized that the current issue is the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. Aliyev stated that any international organization that can help in this area is certainly welcome to do so. He added that the OSCE can play a role as a credible international organization. “As I mentioned, during my recent meetings with the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office I stated that the civil society representatives, the media and other influential public figures could hold meetings within the framework of the OSCE, i.e. within this format so that Armenian-Azerbaijani relations could be normalized,” he said.
Region’s future development
Aliyev emphasized that Azerbaijan is in favor of doing tangible work and has a clear vision for the region's future development.
He stated that the majority of the work was completed in 2021, with some completed in the first three months of this year.
“This gives us the opportunity to say, if all this is implemented, that there will be peace in the region, in the whole of the South Caucasus, there will be calm, the risks of war will be greatly reduced, and we can live comfortably,” he said.
The president expressed confidence that Azerbaijan will grow even stronger and stressed that despite 30 years of occupation of its lands, Azerbaijan has achieved full political and economic independence.
In this regard, the president emphasized that Armenia's occupation, ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis in the early 1990s, the Khojaly genocide, and Armenian savagery must never be forgotten.
Armenia's armament
The president stressed that in order to establish peace in the region, the process of arming Armenia must be stopped.
“Armenia does not have the money to buy weapons. It never did. In the second Karabakh war, we destroyed Armenia’s military equipment worth about $4-5 billion. Some of this equipment was taken as spoils of war, and we are using it. Some of it is displayed in the Military Trophies Park. The question is: where does so much money come from in a poor country? Where do these loans come from? Were these loans then repaid or written off?” he said.
He added that if those loans had not been made available to them, there would have been no need for the second Karabakh war.
“Armenia would have meekly come to us seeking an agreement, just as it did when signing the act of capitulation, accepting all our conditions and acting completely differently after the war. Therefore, if money is allocated for the armament of Armenia again, we will consider it as an unfriendly step and will take our steps accordingly,” he added.
Double standards
Stressing that Azerbaijan has not received a single manat in support from anyone, the president added that “no one is helping us, neither during nor after the occupation”.
“In fact, most countries did not even want to call the occupation an occupation,” he said.
Aliyev recalled Azerbaijan's participation in international organizations and bilateral talks during the occupation, noting that it took tremendous effort to incorporate Azerbaijan's territorial integrity principle into those declarations.
He added that “many were refusing, however, it was clear as a day who is the occupier and who is the occupied country”.
“This is double standards, this is injustice. We are still seeing that today, in the Russian-Ukrainian war. In the past, when we were liberating our lands from occupation using the famous ‘Bayraktar’ drones, foreign experts and the media were describing it as a deadly weapon. In the Russian-Ukrainian war, it is called an angel. This is the difference, this is double standards, this is injustice towards us,” he said.
He expressed the hope that international organizations, large foundations, and international non-governmental organizations engaged in charity will heed attention.
“It has been about a year and a half since the war ended. Not a single foundation has helped us. More than 200 people have been killed or seriously injured since the war ended. There are so many foundations and NGOs in the world that deal with this issue. What are they doing? Let them come and help us,” he said.
Noting that Azerbaijan has purchased machinery, equipment and even drones capable of detecting land contaminated with mines, Aliyev stressed that there are not enough specialists, not enough manpower.
“Therefore, let them at least help us in this area. I repeat that we will restore everything on our own anyway,” he said.
Aliyev underlined that Azerbaijan will rebuild both Karabakh and Zangazur as an exemplary region where Azerbaijani citizens will live comfortably and prosperously.
“But my appeal is to international organizations. Those involved in human rights, those championing the principles of justice should pay at least some attention to Azerbaijan and avoid double standards,” he said.
Non-Aligned Movement, Organization of Islamic Cooperation
Noting that Azerbaijan currently chairs the Non-Aligned Movement, the president recalled that with the consent and support of all member states, the chairmanship has been extended for another year.
“This is a manifestation of the great confidence shown to us. The Non-Aligned Movement has demonstrated a fair stance on the past conflict immediately after Azerbaijan became a member of this movement, and I believe that further important events have taken place in this direction since the end of the war,” he said.
Speaking about the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Aliyev noted that during the occupation the OIC adopted numerous resolutions in support of Azerbaijan’s position.
“At a recent meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation at the level of foreign ministers, several other resolutions were adopted in support of Azerbaijan's position, including one dwelling upon the destruction of Azerbaijan's historical and religious sites by Armenians,” he said.