(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 21. As reported,
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev was
interviewed by Japan's NIKKEI newspaper on October 21, 2020.
Trend presents the interview.
- About the Karabakh conflict. Now foreign ministers
from both Azerbaijan and Armenia are to visit Washington DC on
Friday. What do you expect from that meeting. Are you ready for
trilateral talk with some conditions?
-Actually, as you know, the United States, Russia and France are
three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group which has a mandate to
facilitate, to find a solution to the conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. Therefore, it's natural that our ministers meet in
these three capitals. These kind of meetings happened before, many
times. And you know that there have been a visit to Moscow and
meeting in Moscow. So, it is a continuation of the discussions on
the peaceful settlement of the conflict. Of course, now situation
on the ground have changed. The status quo no longer exists, the
line of contact does not exist either. Therefore, of course, I
think that now Armenian leadership must be more reasonable, and to
commit itself to liberation of the occupied territories. So, our
main objective at these discussions will be to find out whether the
Armenian leadership is ready to liberate our territories or not,
and if ready, then when?
-Are you also invited to Moscow by President
Putin?
-No.
-If invited are you ready to go?
-I have been many times invited by President Putin. And I
visited Moscow many times some years even several times a year.
Therefore, it is obvious, between partner countries and neighbors
these high level contacts are common. And President Putin also
visited Azerbaijan many times.
-If there is any progress on Friday between the
ministers, is it possible to have a trilateral meeting in Moscow
with Armenian prime minister also joining?
-Well, of course it is possible. Because this kind of meetings
happened before. It depends on what will be the agenda if this kind
of meeting is going to take place. Because with this Armenian
government unfortunately, the prospects for peaceful settlement are
very remote. Because very counter-productive and provocative
statements and actions on behalf of Armenian leadership made actual
negotiations senseless. Because the main topic on negotiation table
always has been liberation of the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.
And when Armenian prime minister declares that "Karabakh is
Armenia", when he declares that "Azerbaijan must negotiate with
Nagorno-Karabakh's so-called authorities", and when he orders
ballistic missile strike on a peaceful city of Ganja and daily
attacks on other cities of Azerbaijan, there is not much room for
negotiations. Therefore, we had to prove Armenian government that
they cannot afford any longer to make these aggressive steps
without any punishment. We are punishing them on the ground. We are
liberating our territories.
Every day almost I announce new cities and villages which have
been liberated from Armenian occupation. Armenia is suffering very
bitter defeat on the battlefield. Therefore, of course, they must
be more reasonable, and definitely, the matter of liberation of the
territories is happening. We wanted to achieve it through peaceful
talks. But due to Armenian unconstructive position and provocative
steps it was not possible. Therefore, we are now liberating our
territories on the battlefield.
-Would you say the second ceasefire has already failed
or ended? Would you say the battles are still going
on?
-Second attempts to achieve ceasefire failed because two minutes
after the time when ceasefire had to be efficient they violated the
ceasefire. They again, attacked our peaceful cities, this morning
from 6 am until 8 am they launched more than 100 times their shells
on peaceful city of Tartar which suffered mostly and they attack
our military position. They wanted to regain the territories which
have already been liberated. As you know, after the first attempt
of ceasefire in less than 24 hours, they attacked from the
territory of Armenia with ballistic missile, second largest city of
Azerbaijan – Ganja, which is a war crime. And the Armenian
government will be responsible for that. So, they violate the
ceasefire. I always say that ceasefire cannot be achieved
unilaterally. If we are attacked, we must not only defend
ourselves, but also launch a counter-attack. And I can tell you
after they violated ceasefire second time, we liberated the city of
Zangilan, and many villages. So, the more time passes on the
battlefield, the more territories we liberate. Therefore, Armenian
government should think seriously about their behavior and make a
strong commitment if they want the ceasefire to be efficient.
First, not to violate it, second, not to attempt to regain the
territories which we already liberated, and make a commitment about
liberation of occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
-The ceasefires so far had been for humanitarian
purposes, including exchange of captives and bodies. So, do you
think that means ceasefire, maybe there will be another one, but it
will be over once exchange of captives are done?
Is there a substantial ceasefire that will hold or is it
just a temporary one, if there is any?
-It was announced on humanitarian grounds, and also as you know
in Moscow declaration there was a reference to substantive
negotiations. And the fact that the format of negotiations is
unchanged, which means that there will be no more attempts from
Armenian side to try to integrate the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh
authorities" on negotiation table. This was rejected by us, and by
the Minsk Group. Therefore, of course, if Armenia commits to
negotiations and with a strong commitment to liberate the
territories which they so far did not announce then, this ceasefire
will be a long-termed. Because we want to resolve this problem
peacefully. But if, they will try to use ceasefire in order to
mobilize their resources, in order to get additional foreign
military assistance and to launch a new attack on us, of course,
this ceasefire will not last long. It depends on them.
-So, in order to get on the table of negotiations would
you demand Armenia to agree to withdraw at least some of maybe the
seven regions in advance, before any negotiation?
-They must make a strong commitment that they will liberate
these territories. Because, this is the part of the basic
principles which have been agreed between two countries with the
facilitation of the Minsk Group. Basic principles say that the
occupied territories must be returned to Azerbaijan and our
refugees and internally displaced persons must return to all the
occupied territories, including territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, and
including territory of ancient Azerbaijani city of Shusha.
Therefore, the Armenian government must clearly declare that they
are committed to this principles, they will liberate these
territories, and then of course, negotiations will start. We do not
put a pre-condition now that territories must be liberated first
and then negotiations started. We, at this moment demand from
Armenian side, from prime minister personally, the person who is
responsible for this violence and is responsible for war crimes
against peaceful Azerbaijanis, we demand from him personally saying
Armenia will liberate the occupied territories. After that of
course, the resolution of the conflict will be transformed from the
battlefield to the negotiation table.
-Would you be ready for negotiation maybe if Armenia
says they are ready to withdraw or liberate five regions
first?
-All the regions of Azerbaijan must be liberated. All of them.
Of course we can talk about the timing and in the basic principles
there were certain ideas about timing on which stage the first
regions on which stage the second part of the regions. So, this can
be discussed. But it is obvious that all the occupied territories
must be returned.
-And this has to be announced before.
-And all Azerbaijanis must return to their ancient lands.
-What would you say to Russia's proposal of sending
monitoring teams, or what about international
monitors?
-International monitors, our peace-keeping forces is part of the
basic principles. But it is the last part, one of the last issues,
which had to be addressed and definitely both sides Azerbaijan and
Armenia should agree on who will be those international observers,
or peacekeepers. Therefore, we did not seriously discuss this issue
in the framework of negotiations. I think that the Minsk Group
co-chairs, three countries will definitely make proposal on their
behalf about what composition, the number of so-called observers,
when and where they are going to be deployed? Because it is also
important from technical point of view. Because now it is an active
phase of combat operations. Where these observers or peacekeepers
will be deployed? Their life can be under risk. And what will be
their mandate? Who will give the mandate to them? And it is clear
that when we talk about that we talk about the territory of
Azerbaijan. It is not territory of Armenia. Therefore, of course,
we must have a decisive say about that. Therefore, of course, all
these issues must be addressed. In principle, we are not rejecting
it. But of course, we will put our conditions when time will
come.
-Speaking of Minsk Group, Turkey criticizes Minsk Group
as brain dead. Would you agree?
-I said recently that the Minsk Group did not produce any result
for 30 years. At the same time, I said that with the facilitation
of the Minsk Group, with the previous Armenian governments we
managed to make progress, not a big progress but still progress.
But if one group of countries for 30 years cannot produce results,
it speaks for itself. And also, the co-chairs of the Minsk Group
are permanent members of the UN Security Council. And the UN
security Council with participation of these countries and with the
voting of these countries adopted four resolutions demanding
complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from
Azerbaijani territories. That's a question why these resolutions
are not implemented because the Minsk Group co-chairs and permanent
members are the same countries. It is an open question.
-Among the Minsk Group co-chairs, what would you say to
Russia? What would you say to Russia's role as a leading mediator?
How would you say has Russia been fair?
-Three co-chairs of the Minsk Group have the same rights, and
the same mandate. Therefore, as far as I know among these countries
they did not choose a leader. They are all equal and we look at
them as mediators. If any country assumes the role of mediator,
this country must be neutral. And, if it is not neutral, it cannot
be a mediator. The level of neutrality is another question, which
of course, will be addressed at the proper time. But, I think the
Minsk group co-chairs will play their role, especially now, when
Armenia is almost defeated on the battlefield in order to stop
violence, and to implement mandate which was for 28 years not
implemented.
-Do you want Turkey to have more say in the Caucasus
affairs and be much more active in this negotiation
process?
-It depends of course on the political agenda of Turkey. I
cannot speak on behalf of Turkey. What I want to say is that of
course, we always, strongly support Turkish active involvement in
the regional issues and actually, this involvement is obvious.
Turkey plays important role now not only in our region, not only in
the Caucasus, but in a broader region and in the world. It is a
reality, and it is a very good reality for us. Because for us
Turkey is a brotherly country, our closest ally and friend. And de
facto, Turkey is already involved of course, from the legal point
of view also as a member of the Minsk Group. I said once in one of
the interviews that Turkey could have been even a co-chair. If
today, we would have been selecting the co-chairs definitely,
Azerbaijan would have supported the Turkish candidacy and I am sure
Turkey would have insisted on being a co-chair. In 1992,
unfortunately it didn't happen. So, this is a legal part. And then,
a practical part, as you know presidents of Turkey and Russia,
their foreign ministers, defense ministers talked, met, discussed
this issue. Therefore, if somebody says that Turkey should not be
there, as Armenia says, it's none of Armenian business, Turkey is
already there and must be involved, because it will bring
stability. And also, Turkey I think is the only country which has a
border with three Caucasian countries. No other country has a
border with three of them. Then, of course, Turkey must be actively
involved, Turkey is involved and we strongly support it.
-Karabakh is by international law Azerbaijan's
territory. But at the same time there are many Armenian
inhabitants. Can you guarantee once Azerbaijan gets back its
control, Armenian inhabitants can live safely with equal
rights?
-Yes, definitely. And I already many times during this active
phase of the conflict made statements in this regard that those
Armenians who live in Nagorno-Karabakh are our citizens and their
security, their rights will be totally provided as long as the
rights of all other people of Azerbaijan. And I can tell you that
today, in Azerbaijan we have thousands of people of Armenian
origin, unlike Armenia, where there is no Azerbaijanis and 99% of
Armenia are ethnic Armenians. So, no national minority, can live
and survive there. So, they expelled all the nationalities which
used to live on the territory of today's Armenian Republic. The
biggest community were Azerbaijanis. In the beginning of the 20th
century, the city of Yerevan was 70 percent inhabited by
Azerbaijanis. They destroyed all our historical, religious
monuments. They destroyed the traces of Azerbaijani culture, not
only in Yerevan but also in many other regions of today's Armenia.
And by the way, Azerbaijani Democratic Republic which was
established on May 28, 1918, on May 29th decided unfortunately,
that was a big mistake which cannot be justified, to give Yerevan
to Armenia as a capital. So, they destroyed all our religious and
cultural heritage, they destroyed our mosques, they destroyed our
monuments, but here in the center of Baku there is an Armenian
church with many Armenian books. And many Armenians, thousands of
them live today in Baku and in other parts of Azerbaijan. With
respect to the point that you said that many Armenians who lived
there, according to our information, the real population of
territory which is occupied, including former Nagorno-Karabakh
Autonomous District is around 65 thousand people. It is not a big
community. But before the war in the beginning of 1990s there have
been more than 40 thousand Azerbaijanis, who lived in
Nagorno-Karabakh, mainly in Shusha, but also in Khankandi, in
Khojaly, the city which suffered Armenian genocide, genocide
committed by Armenians, and many other cities. So, they committed
ethnic cleansing against us. We never did it. And even during these
clashes, we did not respond the same way. We did not attack with
ballistic missiles, neither the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, nor
territory of Armenia. And I said that we will take revenge but we
will take revenge on the battlefield. So, Armenians in
Nagorno-Karabakh can be absolutely sure that their security will be
provided. And after the criminal junta in Nagorno-Karabakh is
thrown away, they, as Azerbaijani citizens will live better. They
will live in dignity, they will live in peace, and we will provide
all the social and economic advantages for them, as we do for any
other people in our country.
-When you get back Nagorno-Karabakh would you respect
their rights of self-determination as stated in Madrid principles.
Do you agree to referendum?
No, of course not. There will be no referendum, in
Nagorno-Karabakh we will never agree on that. We did not agree on
that during the time of negotiations and now, when we regained big
part of the territory, it is out of question. With respect to
self-determination, Armenian people have already self-determinated
themselves. They have an independent Armenian state. Imagine what
will happen if Armenians will self-determinate themselves anywhere
where they live. How many small Armenias will be in the world? This
is a counter-productive approach. Self-determination is an
important factor of international law. But it should not violate
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. There are different types
of self-determination. There are different types of communities.
And they could be cultural autonomy for instance. We see these
examples in developed countries of Europe. Where there are certain
rights of people in their municipalities, in their communities, as
in any part of Azerbaijan of course, Armenians who live in
Azerbaijan can have this form of communication. But never we will
allow the creation of the second Armenian state on the territory of
Azerbaijan. This is out of question. In other words, there will be
no referendum, never.
-Reportedly, Armenia is recruiting Lebanese, Syrian
Armenians. At the same time, NGO namely, Syrian observatory for
human rights claims that many ethnic Turkmen fighters from Syria
are now in the battlefield alongside with your forces, would you
say that is true?
-No, this is not true. First, I would like to say the fact that
Armenia recruited mercenaries and fighters from the Middle East is
not a secret. And even Armenian prime Minister admitted it. But he
said that they are native Armenians. First, nobody knows whether
they are native Armenians or not, and we have information that
representatives of different nationalities are now fighting on
Armenian side. And second, if the person is ethnic Armenian but
citizen of other country does not mean that he is not a mercenary.
Among those who have been eliminated on the battlefield, there are
people with Lebanese passport, with Canadian passport. We have
evidence about citizens of France, United States of Armenian
origin. But citizens of these countries and citizens of some
countries of former Soviet Union are fighting against us together
with citizens of the countries of the Middle East. Armenia used
mercenaries during the first Karabakh War. This is not a secret.
Some of them have been eliminated by Azerbaijan and they erased a
big monument in their honor, monuments in the honor of
international terrorists. This shows that Armenia is a terrorist
state. With respect to Azerbaijan, first this so-called Syrian
observatory NGO is not a credible organization. We know about many
fakes which they spread over with respect to the war in Syria. So,
there is no credibility, trust to this politically motivated
so-called NGO. First we need to check who is financing and then
understand who is behind these rumors. Second, not a single
evidence have been presented to us by any country. Only rumors,
only unjustified statements, and I demanded proof. I said okay, now
it's more than twenty days that we are in the active phase of the
conflict. Where are there proofs? Give us the proofs. No proofs.
Therefore, these rumors must be stopped. Azerbaijan is fighting
itself. We don't need any foreign fighters. We have enough people,
enough soldiers and officers in our regular army. We have ten
million population. If we need additional fighters we will announce
mobilization, we will recruit. So, there is no need for that and it
is absolutely false information.
-So, as you said repeatedly, no jihadists and even no
Turkmen?
No, there can be people of Azerbaijani origin coming from other
countries. We do not exclude it. Because we have many volunteers,
people who voluntarily want to defend their country. We cannot
exclude that people of Azerbaijani origin from other countries come
but it is not the way how it is presented that Azerbaijan invited
terrorists in order to fight. This is false information.
-Are you aware of those volunteers with Azerbaijani
origin?
-There can be, I said, I do not exclude. There can be. But we
receive many requests, many letters from Azerbaijanis who live
outside to come and to fight for their historical motherland. But
our position is – we don't need it. We have enough people on the
battlefield.
-Japanese companies joined oil and pipe line projects of
Azerbaijan. They are investors here. Do you have concerns over the
security of five pipelines? Is there any risk of postponement of
the TAP pipeline which is going to be opened very soon within this
year?
-No, with Tap pipeline everything is on the schedule, it is
already done. It's a matter of maybe some additional weeks, not
months for official opening of TAP. Everything is ready, the
historical pipeline from Baku to Europe have been completed. With
respect to other pipelines which we have and particular oil and gas
pipelines on the territory of Azerbaijan during all these years
since 2006, when Baku-Tbilisi-Jeyhan was commissioned, we didn't
have any accident. Our pipelines on our territory are duly
protected. But of course we heard threats from official Armenian
representatives that they will attack our pipelines, they will
attack Sangachal terminal which is an important terminal for oil
and gas transportation, but this is also part of their terrorist
nature. Because they openly declare that they will attack civilian
infrastructure. And of course, if they do it, they will regret,
because they will be punished by us, severely, and also those
countries which today provide part of their energy security from
Azerbaijan. What will be reaction of those countries? Billions of
dollars have been invested in these pipelines. International banks,
all the leading international banks like World Bank, EBRD, Asian
Development Bank, European Investment Bank and other banks
invested. So, the Armenian leadership should think twice about this
kind of option. And of course, as I said, Azerbaijan itself will
punish them severely, and I don't think that they will even dare to
do this, another war crime.
-Since it's very rare occasion for us to meet you. Let
us ask, a couple of questions about the future of your country in
general.
-Yes of course.
-So, Azerbaijan is the first commercial oil producer in
the world.
-Yes, that is true.
-But how do you think the country would transfer to the
post-oil era. Do you have any expectations from you know, how
Japanese companies might be involved in that?
-Yes, of course we have agenda of diversification of our
economy, and this process is successfully continuing. Even this
year, though our GDP is going down not very seriously, it's less
than 4% decline so far. In comparison with some other countries
it's not a bad result but with respect to non-oil related industry
we have a growth. That shows that our diversification program is
being implemented very successfully. Industrial development,
business opportunities, tourism, of course before the pandemic was
rapidly growing. And innovation sector and agriculture, and of
course coming back to the main topic, when we see that now
Azerbaijan is liberating the territories, first we liberated very
important water storage, which will provide water supply for tens
of thousands of hectares of land. Armenia actually committed an
ecological terror against us. They were closing the water from the
river Tartar and thus hundred thousands of hectares of land were
not supplied with water. They were closing in summer, when people
need it and they were opening it in winter and making floods. So,
the terrorist nature of Armenia is on every, every step. So, after
we regained the territories back, and this is a very good soil for
growing different products, for breeding cattle, of course, our
agriculture will have a new boost. We already started to plan our
future agricultural development with respect of the liberation of
the territories. Of course, we think that investments in human
capital will provide for us good opportunities for development,
because oil and gas will come to an end once, though, our reserves
are huge. We just started to export large quantities of natural
gas, and oil production profile will be more or less stable for
coming decades. But non-energy sector of course, is priority. With
respect to Japanese companies, they are very active here in the
area of energy, with the loans from Japanese banks we built two big
power stations, in Baku. Their capacity is close to 800 megawatts.
So these power stations provide important part of our consumption
and our export. We, by the way, export electric energy also, and we
want to see Japanese companies in the area of renewable energy,
which is now one of the priorities. We already signed preliminary
agreements with some investors. So, we hope that the area which is
very promising and has a potential because of a lot of sun and a
lot of wind, especially in Absheron peninsula. And in many other
areas today Japanese companies provide equipment, machinery,
technology also in agriculture. So, we are very satisfied with the
level of economic cooperation between Japan and Azerbaijan.
-What about political reforms? You have criticism, I
mean there are criticism from many western countries that you
yourself succeeded your father and now your wife is vice president
and so, are you ready to promote democracy and to open up power to
oppositions?
-I think that the democratic development in the country is going
in a positive direction. We have all the major freedoms in
Azerbaijan. Freedom of political activity, media freedom, freedom
of expression, freedom of assembly, religious freedom. So, there is
no restrictions on that. We have free internet, by the way, and
those who tried to criticize us they should look to the substance
and not spread rumors and use the so-called democratic shortcomings
of Azerbaijan for political purposes, for the purposes of political
pressure. Now, I introduced the new program of political reforms
which was supported by absolute majority of all political parties.
And that was done by the way before this clash. Now, of course,
absolute majority of political parties strongly support my policy
on return of the occupied territories. Only two parties are not
part of this process. Only two parties are going against national
interests of Azerbaijan. This is a Popular Front Party, and Musavat
Party. And by the way, these two parties rejected my proposal for
political dialogue. I made this proposal several months ago. I
said, we need to have a political dialogue, we need to have normal,
civilized relations between the government and opposition, between
a leading party and other parties. And now I think 50 parties or
more supported that. We are in a very active phase of the political
dialogue. Only two parties, which have a direct financing from
outside, which always were acting against national interests of
Azerbaijan, these two parties are responsible for the loss of the
territories. Because they were in power in 1992-1993, when Armenia
occupied our territories-Popular Front and Musavat. And those
people who are responsible for the loss of the territories today
are the leaders of these parties for almost 30 years. And nobody
talks about democracy, nobody talks about how they keep this
position for almost 30 years. Therefore, those who want to
criticize us better look at the mirror. In front of our eyes, in
front of the international community eyes we see how demonstrations
are brutally suppressed in the so-called democracies. How people
are being killed at the rallies, wounded, injured. Every week we
see it. How police is using you know dogs and horses in order to
suppress protestors. You will not see it in Azerbaijan. Never.
Therefore, those who criticize us better take care of their own
business. With respect to what you said about me succeeding my
father, yes it is true. But before I succeeded my father, I was for
many years a Member of Parliament, since 1995 until 2003. I was the
president of the National Olympic Committee since 1997. I was a
deputy and then senior deputy of the leading political party – Yeni
Azerbaijan Party. And I was a prime minister. So, my political
career is known to international observers and of course, they know
that it was not like they want to present. And talking about
succeeding, why nobody talks about Bush family. How they succeeded
each other. Why nobody talks about Clinton family. When the wife
became the Secretary of State and then was a presidential
candidate. And many other cases like that. Let them look at
themselves before raising this issue. With respect to my wife, my
wife was a Member of Parliament since 2005. She was very active on
the issues related to the social and humanitarian area. She was and
is the head of the biggest NGO in the Caucasus – the Heydar Aliyev
Foundation. She has a strong support among Azerbaijanis, you can
ask any person on the street and you will see how they love her and
support her. And she was and is a deputy chairman of Yeni
Azerbaijan Party. Therefore, her political career also was not a
kind of sudden event. And I can tell you that she was not very
happy when I suggested this position to her. I can tell you, maybe
I tell that for the first time, it took me a lot of time to
persuade her. And I had arguments and she didn't want. She is
totally involved in social, humanitarian issues. And she wants and
she helps tens of thousands of people, tens of thousands. But she
does it without any PR, without advertisement, without
announcement. So, she is a person our people are proud of.
-You mentioned freedom of speech and the internet. But I
believe there are some restrictions on the social networking
systems.
-These are temporary restrictions, these restrictions have been
imposed after these clashes have started. And we made announcement
to our people that this is for the issues of national security.
Because, we need to protect at this time our information system
from Armenian provocations. So, this is temporary. As soon as this
active phase of clashes stops, all these restrictions will be
lifted. But I can tell you that the level of penetration of
internet is very high, and more than 80 percent of Azerbaijanis are
internet users. So, it is only temporary.
-Let me close with the one final question your highness.
Let's finish it with the hopeful note. Are you hopeful for a
peaceful solution? And what will peace can bring Armenia and
Azerbaijan also because Armenia is landlocked. Borders are closed
here, borders are closed on Turkish side, their economy is on
decline, what can peace bring to both countries?
-Of course, peace will change the situation in region
completely. And I hope to see the time when the three countries of
the Southern Caucasus will have cooperation. Now for instance,
level of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Georgia is very high.
We are strategic partners, and with current Georgian government we
have excellent relations. We support each other and we are good
neighbors and good friends. And we implemented look, how many
projects together. Oil transportation, gas transportation, energy
transportation, railroad connection, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars,
Baku-Tbilisi-Jeyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum, TANAP and many others.
Azerbaijan is, I think, first to second largest investor in Georgia
along with Turkey. First to second largest taxpayer and by the way,
in the middle of 90s the issue of construction of pipeline was
discussed. There were some proposals from the West to have these
pipelines through Armenia. But Armenia should have then liberate
the territories and then, the pipeline could have gone from
Azerbaijan to Armenia and then to Nakhchivan and to Turkey. And
that was a shortest route. If you look at the map you will see how
the pipeline goes. It is because to bypass Armenia. But Armenians
thought that we will not be able to implement this pipeline.
Therefore, they said no, and I think now they seriously regret.
They became deadlocked because of occupation. They thought that we
will not be able to build pipelines, they thought we will not be
able to build railroads, they were always advocating for how to say
functioning of the Kars-Gumru railroad which existed. But it was
closed because our brotherly country Turkey closed the border
because of Armenian occupation. So, now Armenia is not landlocked
but they don't have border with Turkey, because of aggression
against Azerbaijan, and because of territorial claims against
Turkey. Maybe you don't know, but in their constitution they have
territorial claims against Turkey. One must be crazy now to have
claims to such a powerful country as Turkey. But that's substance
of their ideology. During the time of negotiations, there have been
messages sent to previous Armenian government that if they put an
end to occupation, Azerbaijan can implement different social and
economic projects in Nagorno-Karabakh. These messages were sent
through the Minsk-group co-chairs to former Armenian president and
they rejected. Today in Nagorno-Karabakh people live in poverty,
you know total unemployment, poverty and destroyed infrastructure.
We were ready to invest, but we said liberate the territories and
we will help you. Today when we liberate the territories,
ourselves, definitely will help those people those Armenians who
live in Nagorno-Karabakh and of course Azerbaijanis who will return
to rebuild this area. But if Armenia makes the constructive steps
and liberate the territories of course, we will open all the
communications. I know that, I heard about the position of the
Turkish government that they will also open communications if
Armenia liberates the territories. Then the situation in the
southern Caucasus will completely change.
-Has Mr. Erdogan mentioned you about this
intention?
-Well, maybe we did not discussed it directly. But of course, we
know that this is the position that the reason why Armenian Turkish
border is closed, because of the occupation. If occupation is
lifted, the border will be opened it is official position of
Turkish government and Armenians know that. And without
normalization of relations with Turkey and with Azerbaijan Armenia
has no future. Because the market is small, and is getting smaller.
Population is shrinking, migration is very high. According to our
information today, real population, how many people there are in
Armenia, less than two million. Less than two million. It will go
down. Because of no job, especially now when they are deprived of
those very productive lands in the occupied territories. If you
look at these images from the sky, you will see how they use our
land for illegal products. They not only use our land, they use our
gold mines in Kalbajar. There are foreign companies whom we will
sue, if they don't stop. By the way, soon I think they will stop
anyway. So, they will suffer even more problems, because they will
be deprived of this important agricultural segment. They will just
decline and we will develop. Our population is growing. Turkish
population is 83 million, Azerbaijani population is 10 million.
Armenian population is less than two million. They should think how
they are going to live here in 10 years, in 20 years, in 50 years
if they don't be reasonable, if they don't put end to aggression.
And they cannot afford this aggression any longer, and we showed
them on the battlefield who is who. All their mythology about their
brave army, was a kind of fake. Their army is running, we defeat
them. We beat them, and we will continue to do it, until they get
out of our land.
-Thank you very much for this opportunity and it has
been always a pleasure to be in Baku.
-Thank you.
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