(MENAFN- AzerNews)
By
The Connect World' program of CNN International TV channel has
broadcast an interview with President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Ilham Aliyev.
presents the interview.
-Sir, I spoke to the President of Armenia, and he told
me that this conflict is dramatically different from the previous
clashes, because of the open support that Turkey is providing
Azerbaijan. Specifically, he told me this. Turkey with its military
officials, generals, mercenaries, terroristic jihadists brought in
thousands to Azerbaijan to fight Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey with his
military might pretending they are there in order to protect some
international logistic structures. Are there any Turkish forces or
Turkish equipment in Azerbaijan right now sir?
-Turkish equipment yes, Turkish forces no. And frankly speaking,
I regret that Armenian president is using this opportunity to
address the world through CNN to spread rumors. I cannot call it
otherwise, because what he said as you presented to me I didn't see
his presentation but what I heard from you is absolutely wrong. It
is false information. Turkey is supporting us, but this is a
political support. This is a diplomatic support, and if not for
this support if not for very open position of the Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying that Azerbaijan is not alone, Turkey is
with Azerbaijan, probably today Armenia would have achieved its
goal, which is actually to spread the geography of this conflict
and to involve as many countries as possible so these countries
help them on the battlefield. And I would also like to remind
Armenian president who was behind Armenia when Armenia in the
beginning of 90s was occupying our territories We have enough
evidences who was helping them to occupy our territories.
Therefore, from Armenian side to say that somebody is helping
Azerbaijan is absolutely wrong, is false information and we reject
it.
-You have said that there is Turkish equipment in
Azerbaijan. What Turkish equipment sir?
-Weapons, Turkish weapons, not only Turkish weapons, Russian
weapons, Israeli weapons, Belarusian weapons, Ukrainian weapons,
you name it. Because today the geography of our purchases of
military equipment is getting broader and broader, and we pay for
that. If you look how Armenia gets their weapons and from where,
you will see that they could not afford to pay for those weapons
which they have, because that's billions of dollars. For a poor
country it's impossible. They get weapons free of charge from their
ally, we get weapons paying for them.
-Okay, let me put this to you sir. We have seen
satellite imagery that would suggest Turkish F-16s are on at least
one of your bases. You haven't bought F-16s. So, is that correct?
Are there F-16s on the ground that would suggest significant
support for Azerbaijan?
-I agree with you when you say on the ground. F-16s came to
Azerbaijan for military exercise. Last year Azerbaijan and Turkey
had ten joint military exercises. Turkey is our ally and it is
common here to have military exercises, including air force. By the
way this year due to the pandemic we had only two military
exercises. One of them was just before the Armenian attack on
Azerbaijan happened. So F-16s are on the ground, they are not
flying. They are not in any way participating in any kind of
battle. And by the way…
-You are categorical about that. That F-16s are not in
use.
-I am categorical and even more I want to tell you about one
Armenian fake in the first days of the clashes they said that
Turkish F-16 shot down Armenian SU-25. This is fake and those who
are accusing us of this now should apologize. Because everybody
knows that this is a fake. F-16s are here, but they are on the
ground as you correctly mentioned.
-OSCE's Minsk Group which has sought a solution to this
long-standing dispute since the 1990s is co-chaired by France, by
the US and by Russia. The French foreign minister has specifically
warned that Turkey's backing of Azerbaijan risks fueling the
internationalization of this conflict. You say you are supported by
Turkey. But what do you say to the French when they say this
support risks this conflict getting worse?
-I do not agree with that. As I said, Turkey plays a stabilizing
role in the region and in particular in the situation with respect
to Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Every country can
afford to have a partner, and an ally. And Azerbaijan and
Azerbaijani people are happy to have such a partner, such an ally
and such a brother like Turkey. We do not object when Armenia
considers France their ally and France is a country which at this
moment supports most of all Armenia. At the same time we see that
it's up to countries themselves to choose allies. For instance,
French foreign minister is not concerned about Russia supporting
Armenia with weapons free of charge and he doesn't think that it is
internationalization of the conflict. But when Turkey expresses
legitimate, political support it becomes a concern and I, frankly
speaking, cannot understand that how one NATO country can act in
such a way against another NATO country? NATO members are supposed
to be allies. But we don't see it.
-Can you explicitly lay out the goals of your campaign
at present?
Our goal is to defend our people, to defend our country and to
defend our right to live on our land. It was Armenia who on
September 27th launched an artillery attack on Azerbaijani military
position and on our villages and cities. During these days of
clashes we have 31 victims among civilians, almost 200 wounded, and
more than 1,000 houses demolished, or seriously damaged by Armenian
army. We had to respond, had to defend ourselves. Our respond was
very sensitive to Armenia, was very painful. They suffer very
serious defeat, they run away from us, we liberate part of our
territory, we install our national flag on the occupied
territories, we restore our territorial integrity and we are right.
We are fighting on our soil, Armenia is fighting on the soil of
another country.
-How many military casualties have you sustained
sir?
-With respect to military casualties I already referred to that,
we will disclose this information after the active phase of the
clashes is over.
Do you intend to retake all of Nagorno-Karabakh, all
disputed lands?
-We are talking about Nagorno-Karabakh and seven districts which
surround former Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous district. Because
Armenia not only occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and expelled all
Azerbaijanis who were about 25 percent of the population of
autonomous district but also occupied seven districts of Azerbaijan
with the population of 700,000 people. So, our main objective is to
liberate those territories and to allow Azerbaijani refugees and
internally displaced persons to go back. As far as Nagorno-Karabakh
is concerned we think and that was officially declared many times
that after the war is over, after occupational forces are
withdrawn, Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Nagorno-Karabakh will live
side-by-side as in any other country with a multi-ethnic
population, and one day, I am sure, they will again become good
neighbors to each other.
-The Armenian president told me that your demand that
Armenia set a time-table for withdrawing troops should be put to
the 'Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh' because your dispute is with
them. He added though that in Nagorno-Karabakh 95 percent of the
population were Armenians, because they are living there for
thousands of years. You say that Karabakh is Azerbaijan. But how
would you address the fears of ethnic-Armenians there?
-First of all…
-Hold on sir, that they might be ethnically cleansed if
the government of Azerbaijan retakes the territory.
-I understand, today in Azerbaijan thousands of Armenians live
in different cities of our country primarily in the capital city of
Baku. One of the Armenian long-range destructive missile, 'Smerch',
which they use to attack our second largest city of Ganja hit the
house of native Armenian woman. So, today in Azerbaijan there are
thousands of Armenians who live in peace, and dignity. But in
Armenia, all Azerbaijanis have been expelled. Armenia's population
is 99 percent Armenians. They committed ethnic cleansing against
us. What Armenian president said, he is lying again. Today it is
not 95 percent, today it is 100 percent Armenians in
Nagorno-Karabakh, because 25 percent of Azerbaijanis who lived
there were ethnically cleansed by the Armenian regime. I regret
that such a person with such an important position is spreading
lies. Look in the internet, look at Kurekchay Peace Agreement,
which was signed in the beginning of the 19th century, between
Azerbaijani khan of Karabakh and Russian general. Nothing is said
about Armenian population. Armenian population was resettled to our
land by Russian Empire in order to change the religious composition
of the region after the Russo-Persian wars. This is a historical
fact and what Armenian president says is fake, absolutely fake.
-I must point out that as you suggest that the Armenian
president is spreading lies and fake information so he has said the
same thing about Azerbaijan and yourself.
-Look at the internet, look at the documents and you will see
who is telling the truth and who is lying.
-I have to make the point that each side is trading
insults at this point. How would Azerbaijan accept international
mediation and stop military action? What are your bottom lines
here?
-We have international mediation for 28 years. OSCE Minsk Group
is in 'action', actually is passive form for 28 years since 1992
and this mediation led to nothing. This mediation led to what is
happening today. This mediation was not enough in order to press
Armenia to leave the territories which do not belong to them.
-Have you been in touch with Washington on this? I mean
what is the Trump administration telling you? US, of course, is one
of the co-chairs of the Minsk Group.
-We have very diverse relations with the United States,
relations are developing very successfully in many areas. As far as
Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is concerned, three
countries of the Minsk Group co-chairs have the same right and the
same responsibility to mediate and when representatives from these
countries come, they come altogether, representatives of three
countries. Therefore, there is no distinction in their performance.
But of course we understand that some countries are more
pro-Armenian some countries are even more pro-Armenian.
-So, can I just ask you who are you speaking to in
Washington? Is it state or is it the Trump administration? The
Armenian president certainly told us that they have spoken to
Robert O'Brien, for example.
-Well, Armenian prime minister I think the only person whom he
did not speak during these days is a head of a tribe in some far
away you know remote island. He called everyone. He called
President Putin five times, he called President Macron, I don't
know four times. He called Chancellor Merkel. The only one left is
a tribal chief. I advice to call him and to complain on Azerbaijan
and to send some people from his tribe to help poor poor Armenia
whom Azerbaijan is destroying.
-So, that wasn't the question, the question was who are
you speaking to in Washington is it the state or is it the Trump
administration?
-We speak with administration, we speak to State Department.
Actually, they contacted us. I gave instructions to our foreign
ministry, to my administration to be in touch with all those who
call us, who want to express their position and express their view
on how to move forward. But it is actually doesn't make any
difference whether it is State Department or White House because
for us it is US Administration anyway.
-What's the position as you understand it in
Washington?
-The position in Washington is not different from the position
of other co-chairs. They are supporting the principles based on
which the solution must be found. It is Armenia who is against
those principles. Those principles say that territories surrounding
Nagorno-Karabakh should be returned to Azerbaijan in time and when
you were referring to my statement time-table, that is exactly what
is in the documents. It is not me who invented them. It is Armenia
who is against.
-Let's have a look at Russia's position then, because it
is not clear to me what Washington's position is from what we have
just discussed. But let's have a look at Russia's position. Let me
play out some sound from the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. He
said we remain deeply concerned by the situation in the region and
we believe that the sides must stop the fire and come to the
negotiating table. They are asking that you go to the negotiating
table. The Russian president has described the fighting as a
tragedy. You personally spoke to Vladimir Putin as I understand it
on Wednesday. What did he tell you? What are Russia's red lines
here?
-I called President Putin in order to congratulate him on the
occasion of his birthday on the 7th of October. I do it every year
and so does he. So every year we congratulate each other on our
birthdays. And that was a coincidence that his birthday is
coincided with the events. Therefore, of course, we discussed this
issue and our press service has issued a press-release about that,
I think it will not be right for me to say something more than it
was released in the press.
-I wish you would, I mean are you prepared to defy
Moscow's appeal? For peace talks?
-We are for peace talks. If you allow me, I will just give you
two examples. Azerbaijan is a constructive partner to negotiation
table. We think that the principles which have been elaborated by
the United States, Russia and France should be basis for
settlement. Armenian President rejects them, I am sorry, Armenian
prime minister rejects them. Because the person who is in charge in
Armenia is not a president, but prime minister, and with whom I had
negotiations. So he said that 'Karabakh is Armenia'. That makes
negotiations senseless. Because how you can say 'Karabakh is
Armenia' and negotiate to return the territories back? He said
Azerbaijan should negotiate not with Armenia, but with
Nagorno-Karabakh which is a change of format. So we are ready for
negotiations if Armenian prime minister returns back from the skies
where he is flying, back to earth.
-That is not the position, as I understand it, from the
Russians who said both sides must stop the fire and come to the
negotiating table.
-Those who started fire, should stop first and we will do the
same. But to go back to negotiation table. Pashinyan regime did
everything to destroy negotiations. They made the statement, they
attacked us in July, they attacked us in August, they attacked us
in September. They do everything in order to disrupt negotiations.
We are ready. But they are not.
If you won't stop, and they won't stop. What happens
next? Where does this leave the conflict which so many people are
now concerned could escalate into much wider, regional
war?
-It should not escalate wider, I call all the countries to stay
away from this situation. It is our bilateral issue with Armenia.
Mediators they have, they have their mandate. Their mandate is not
to interfere on the ground, their mandate is to facilitate to find
the solution. So, they will continue, I am sure within the
framework of their mandate. Armenians' attempt to make this
conflict international is very counter-productive, destructive and
dangerous for many countries. So, Armenia should understand that
occupation cannot last forever. Status quo must be changed. And by
the way presidents, former presidents of France, former presidents
of United States and President of Russia made a statement, when all
of them were in charge, status-quo is unacceptable and must be
changed. I support it but Armenia is against.
-I want to get your response to a new report from
Amnesty International claiming they have identified Israeli-made
MO-95 DPICM cluster munitions. That appear to have been fired by
Azerbaijani forces. Now CNN cannot independently verify those
claims nor the apparent video of the explosions. But sir, how do
you respond to Amnesty's claims?
-I would say that we don't have any contact with the
organization which you named, because of their pro-Armenian and
anti-Azerbaijani position. First, it is wrong, it is false and
second, I would recommend them to see how cluster bombs are being
used against our civilians. How they use 'Smerch', how they use
'Elbrus', 'Tochka U', ballistic missiles on our cities - Ganja,
Goranboy, Naftalan, Yevlakh and other cities are under Armenian
bombardment. Why does Amnesty International see or want to see only
one side? Why they do not see another side? That's a question.
-Let me just push you on this. Are you categorically
saying that cluster munitions have not being used by Azerbaijani
forces? And if so, are you prepared to allow independent observers
to verify that?
-Yes, we are prepared to do it, also we are prepared to see how
Armenia will allow independent observers to see what they have been
doing. And though it should be not unilateral, it should be
bilateral. We defend ourselves and we must do it. But our targets
are only military objectives. And almost all of what we have
destroyed, we destroyed from the very modern equipment. You can
find it on internet. It's Turkish brand new, excellent, marvelous
fighter drones. It is other equipment which destroys you know
tanks, guns, military positions. So we don't need to use these kind
of weapons in order to achieve our goal. Our target are not
civilians. Our target are occupants, we must return our land to
those whom it belongs to.
-Sir, Armenia can and will speak for themselves. I am
asking you specifically, you categorically deny do you, that
cluster munitions have been used by Azerbaijani
forces.
-Yes, I deny it and I want to ask you. Did you ask this question
to Armenian president?
-We didn't have the information at the
time.
-That's the point,that's the point. You ask me, ask him, ask
him. Let the Amnesty International ask him what they do.
-We will certainly ask him for a statement. I'm asking
you.
-Ask him. I already answered. No. Ask him.
-I will. Thank you, sir.