(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 5. The
Azerbaijani army launched a counter-offensive operation, later
called the "Iron Fist", on September 27, 2020, in response to the
large-scale provocation of the Armenian armed forces along the
frontline.
The erupted 44-day second Karabakh war ended with the
liberation of Azerbaijan's territories from nearly 30-year Armenian
occupation and the restoration of territorial integrity.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev was
interviewed by the Spanish EFE news agency.
Trend presents the interview.
-Good morning, Mr. President. Thank you very much for
taking the time to answer our questions in your busy
time.
-Thank you for this opportunity.
-You are now entering the 6th week of the war in
Nagorno-Karabakh. What is at this point the situation on the
frontline?
-Situation on the frontline is showing the dominance of
Azerbaijani army, we liberate one village, one city after another.
And during this time on the battlefield Azerbaijan liberated large
part of its territory which was under occupation for almost thirty
years, and successful offensive operation of the Azerbaijani army
continues. And this once again shows that we are a strong country,
and we are fighting on our own soil. We restore the internationally
recognized territory of Azerbaijan, territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan. By the way, we implement the United Nations Security
Council resolutions, which demanded withdrawal of Armenian troops
from our territories but were not implemented by Armenia for almost
thirty years.
-You want to recover the seven occupied districts-5+2.
How much of those lands have you already recovered?
-Actually 4 of the 5 occupied districts have already been
liberated, either completely or partially. Today we are in an
active phase of de-occupation of other districts which have been
under occupation. And as I said, we implement the UN Security
Council resolutions, and by the way we implement part of the basic
principles. Because the basic principles for settlement which have
been proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group actually demanded the
liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
Unfortunately, Armenia was not willing to do it voluntarily.
Therefore, we had to force them to do it.
-Both sides have agreed already to three humanitarian
ceasefire. But it helped not even a few minutes. Why wasn't it
possible to stop the war and sit down to talks?
-I think one of the reasons why these ceasefires didn't work,
was the attempt of Armenia to regain back the territories which
have been already liberated by us. In other words, they wanted to
occupy them again. Therefore, they tried to use the ceasefire,
which as you correctly mentioned was announced on humanitarian
grounds, in order to mobilize their resources and launch a new
attack. And when they failed to do it, they launched a ballistic
missile attack from the territory of Armenia on the second largest
city of Azerbaijan, Ganja. They did it twice. But first time on the
10th of October right after the ceasefire was announced. And that
caused the killings of almost 10 civilians and tens have been
wounded. So, they brutally violated the first ceasefire. The second
ceasefire also was violated by them in about five minutes after the
announced time. And the third ceasefire they violated by attacking
the peaceful city of Barda, where 21 civilians were killed and 70
wounded. So, all three times it was Armenian deliberate, aggressive
attack on us, and we had to respond, we had to defend
ourselves.
-You said that you want a concrete calendar for the
withdrawal of Armenian troops. Armenia said they are willing to
compromise and not to surrender or capitulate those territories.
Are you willing to compromise too and what compromise it looks
like?
-First of all, our position has been already many times declared
during these almost forty days. On many occasions, I said that our
task is to restore the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, return
one million Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons
to their homelands, to the territories where they lived for
centuries. And after that, to provide peaceful co-existence between
Azerbaijani and Armenian community in that area. Our position is
based on the common sense, on humanitarian grounds and is supported
by international community. So, it is very clear, Armenia, when
they talk about compromise they do not say anything concrete. They
talk only about self-determination. But self-determination is not a
compromise on their side. They should be more accurate in their
position because it is very ambiguous now. Therefore, we demanded
the time-table for withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied
territories. And we demanded it from the very first day of the
clashes. So, if Armenia listened to us, and behaved in a reasonable
way, today we wouldn't have had the situation which we are now
facing. The war would have stopped maybe a month ago. Therefore,
compromise from Armenian side should be very precise. And the
time-table for withdrawal from part of Aghdam district which is
still under occupation and from Kalbajar and Lachin should be
presented to us. And Armenian prime minister should personally
declare that. Not only do they not give us the time-table, but they
also do not say that they will liberate those territories. During
all this time, since 27 September, never Armenian
military-political leadership said anything about liberation of
territories. In this case, they actually show disrespect to Minsk
Group co-chairs, who elaborated these principles providing return
of seven territories and they actually lead to more escalation. So,
we expect from Armenian prime minister to say openly, publicly that
they will withdraw from Kalbajar, Lachin and the remaining part of
Aghdam.
-And if not, there is only the military option for
you.
-Nothing is left, there is no other option. We don't want to
continue military operations. I said many times and can repeat
today, if Armenian prime minister, personally him, the person who
is responsible for this bloodshed makes such a statement, we are
ready to stop immediately. I am a person who keeps his words, and
we will do it. But he doesn't say. He wants to win time, he wants
to have the ceasefire in order to get some more military
assistance. He wants to use this ceasefire in order to launch new
attacks on Azerbaijan, and to regain back the territories which we
liberated. That's what he is after.
-Are you willing to sit down at this point with Mr.
Pashinyan or is there no point in it?
-No. No point in that at all. I had many meetings with him
during the last two years. But all of them were absolutely useless
and senseless. Except the first meetings where he promised me that
if Azerbaijan gives him a time after the so-called revolution, he
will make his homework, he will strengthen his position politically
in Armenia. Then, he will be willing to work constructively in
order to implement the basic principles. That was what he told me
in the early months of his leadership in Armenia. But after a year,
he said completely different things. He said that there will be no
centimeter of land to be returned to Azerbaijan. He said "Karabakh
is Armenia". He said that Azerbaijan has to negotiate with the
so-called "authorities of this quasi entity Nagorno-Karabakh". So,
he did everything to destroy negotiation process. Therefore, at
this point, I don't see any sense meeting with him. Our foreign
ministers met recently in Geneva. And I think, this is the proper
format now for the communications.
-You said that almost during thirty years the Minsk
Group did nothing, or didn't reach any to recover the occupied
territories. What do you expect from US, Russia and
France?
-Yes, you are right, I said that Minsk Group did not deliver any
result. But at the same time, I said that I cannot completely
ignore their activity and only criticize them. Because the basic
principles which are on the table now, it is the principles which
were elaborated with the assistance of the Minsk Group. So, they
worked, they tried. But they did not use all their tools which they
have in order to press Armenia to withdraw the territories. Each of
these countries unilaterally has enough leverages on Armenia,
whether it's military support, political support, economic support,
diaspora support et cetera. But they did not use these instruments
in their hands. They did not insist on implementation of the UN
Security Council resolutions which they themselves adopted as
permanent members of the UN Security Council. Therefore, the fact
that there was no result, of course, demonstrates their
unwillingness rather than they could not. If they could not, then
who can? Can you find more powerful countries in the world? The
three permanent members of the Security Council cannot influence
small, impoverished, dependent Armenia? They just didn't want. They
wanted the situation to be stable, this is true. They wanted a
peaceful scenario. But when they saw that for almost thirty years
there is no peaceful scenario, and the new Armenian government
actually destroys the process by statements and actions, I think
they should have acted.
And I called many times, talking with their leaders, talking
with their high-ranking officials, 'insert pressure on Armenia, put
sanctions'. If you don't want to put sanctions, at least pronounce
it. Announce it that the sanctions will be imposed, otherwise there
will be no other mechanism to influence this aggressor. So, today,
I think they realized that what they were saying many years, that
'there is no military solution to the conflict' was wrong. And we
changed that reality. There is a military solution. But today, what
we are talking about let's just close that page of military
solution and move to the political solutions. So,
military-political solution must prevail. We are ready to stop
today if Armenian prime minister says what I already demanded from
him and peace process should be based now on implementation of the
rest part of the basic principles which partly have been already
implemented. We need a precise time-table for Kalbajar, Lachin and
part of Aghdam to be liberated. And then, I think the peace will
come to the region.
-I now want to ask you about the statements of Amnesty
International that both sides actually have used cluster bombs and
now you and also Yerevan is saying that both sides use phosphorous
weapons against the civilians. Do you use weapons internationally
forbidden?
-We do not use forbidden weapons. We have enough ammunition in
order to restore our territorial integrity, first. Second, we do
not attack civilians, we do not attack cities in Nagorno-Karabakh
after 10th of October. Before, yes, we admit it. But that was
because most of the military units and infrastructure of Armenian
army was concentrated in the so-called capital of Nagorno-Karabakh,
Khankandi. So we had to. We had to hit those important military
objects in order to provide security for us and to make our
operation more efficient. But after the humanitarian ceasefire was
announced, and many times we announced that, we never hit any city
or any village, where people lived. What Armenian did on the
contrary, they launched ballistic missiles from Armenian territory
to Ganja, and it is proved. Though Armenian prime minister said it
was not them, but it is ridiculous. Because ballistic missile
launch is being monitored by the satellites. Everybody knows from
where it was launched and what was the goal of that missile. It was
deliberately hitting the civilian compounds in Ganja, two times.
They hit Barda two times with very destructive "Smerch" missiles.
21 persons were killed and 70 wounded only by one attack. There
have been many attacks. They attacked a funeral ceremony in Tartar.
That is absolutely beyond any norms of human behavior. When people
were burying the person who died they hit the cemetery and four
people were killed. And the cluster bombs which they used have been
verified by international media and NGOs. I am sure that the first
who reported about that were international media who visited them.
And Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch just didn't have
any other option rather than to acknowledge that. But the question
is, why they didn't come in the first place to Azerbaijan. Why were
they working only on Armenian side? Only after international media,
Western media showed those cluster bombs which Armenian's use, then
these two NGOs confirmed that. It is good that they did. But
frankly speaking I cannot imagine how they could not confirm it,
because it's obvious.
-Russia, Mr. Lavrov said yesterday there are nearly 2000
mercenaries battling or combatting in Nagorno-Karabakh. What do you
say regarding this?
-I answered many times to this groundless accusations, and I
frankly speaking, regret that high-ranking officials of countries
which supposed to be neutral, which supposed to be acting within
their mandate which was given to them by OSCE, use this unverified,
groundless so-called information and rumors, first. Second, we
don't have any mercenaries. Many times I said about that, we don't
need them. We have an army of 100 thousand fighters. We can recruit
several times more, if we announce total mobilization which we
don't do unlike what Armenia did. There is no evidence of any
foreign fighters fighting on our side. No evidence during this time
since more than one month. Not a single document, not a single
proof was given to us, only statements. But then why they don't see
what is happening on Armenian side? How many mercenaries are
fighting on Armenian side? Why neither Russia, nor France which
tries to accuse us, why didn't say anything about that? We have a
list of people already eliminated with foreign passports. American,
French, Canadian, Lebanese, from Iraq, from countries of the
post-Soviet area. Tens of them coming from Georgia. Yes, they are
native Armenians, but it doesn't make any difference. If they are
citizens of other country, they are considered to be acting there
illegally. And so far, nothing was said about that. Though, we have
proofs. We have passports in our hands. We have evidence, video.
Nothing is said about that. So, this is a selective approach which
cannot be accepted by us. It is not in line with the mandate of
mediators. I said many times, mediators must be neutral. If they
take sides, it's up to them, but then they have to step down from
mediation. Every country can have good or bad relations with any
country. We understand there is special feelings towards Armenians
due to some reasons from some countries. But in national capacity,
we don't mind. But if you are mediator, please, be neutral. And
stay away from accusations. If we start to accuse, those who accuse
us about mercenaries, about what they do in different parts of the
world, it will be a long story, very long story. We don't do it.
Therefore, we expect the same from our partners.
-What do you say to those who state that Turkey is not
only giving you political help, but also a military
one?
-I would say that this is another provocation, another false
news. There is no any military support from Turkey, apart from the
fact that we are buying modern military equipment from Turkey. This
is true. And this is a sophisticated, modern equipment that I think
every army in the world would have envied about. And Turkey's
military industrial complex really demonstrates miracles. And this
equipment helps us a lot on the battlefield. But we buy it. We sign
contracts. Everything is transparent. Everything is legal. We buy
weapons from other countries. Why nobody talks about how many
weapons we bought from Russia? Only Turkey. Because Turkey is now
in the center of attack from unfortunately, different European
politicians. There are attempts to demonize Turkey. There are
attempts to blackmail Turkey, to press it. This is absolutely
unacceptable. We buy, main of our weapons from Russia. We buy
weapons from other countries. Only Turkey is here. So, this is
first. Second, those who always keep saying that Turkey provides
military support to us, why don't they say that Russia provides
military support to Armenia? A mediator, Minsk Group co-chair. We
have proofs in our hands. We delivered this information to Russian
officials. How much weapons were delivered to Armenia during this
forty days? Why nobody talks about that? Let's talk about that.
Let's be fair. Therefore, first, this is wrong. Second, we buy
Turkish military equipment and we will continue to do it. And
third, there should be no double standards about that. And those,
by the way, who tell that Azerbaijan is militarily supported by
Turkey, I think should refrain from these absurd accusations.
-Turkey obviously has interests in the region as has
also Iran and Russia. Armenia has asked Russia for a possibility to
guarantee its security. Do you fear an internationalization of the
war?
-That is what Armenia wanted to do from the very beginning. And
we were always against. I said many times to all the countries,
'stay away from this conflict'. It is our business, it's our battle
for territorial integrity. And there should be no attempts to
internationalize the conflict. But Armenia did everything to do it.
And the letter which Armenian prime minister sent to Russian
president, not only demonstrates that they already admit their
defeat, that we beat them on the battlefield, it also shows that
they want to internationalize the conflict. They want to drag
Russia into a direct participation on the ground, which is
absolutely unacceptable. As far as I know, it was rejected by
Russia and Russian foreign minister issued a statement about that.
That maybe I'm not precisely correct in my words, but the sense was
that the fight is taking place on the territory of Azerbaijan. If
Azerbaijan attacks, or if any country attacks Armenia, then Russia
will have their obligations. But the battle is going on our soil.
So, these attempts I think are absolutely useless. Russian position
was articulated by the foreign minister. Iranian position was also
articulated. Probably you heard about Iranian plan for the
settlement, which provides territorial integrity of countries. And
recently, the Iranian religious leader made a statement that
Armenia should liberate internationally recognized territories of
Azerbaijan. So, this is a reaction of two neighbors. Position of
Turkey is well-known. It always stands for international law and UN
Security Council resolutions. Georgia, on many occasions before,
also supported Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. This is a
position of our neighbors. So, Armenia is in isolation. So, they
want to internationalize the conflict. They want to exploit some
fake news and some fake news from the history, in order to get
support. But the best way for Armenia to act now is to admit their
defeat, admit our victory and make a commitment that they will
withdraw from the remaining part of the territories.
-If they recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh
what would your reaction be?
-You know, if they wanted to recognize, they would have
recognized long time ago. Why didn't they recognize it before?
Because, they clearly understand that by this very irrational step,
negotiations will stop. Absolutely. So, if they do it, there will
be nothing to talk about. And then, no peaceful initiative, no
basic principles, no future settlement, nothing will be on the
table. So, I think that they understand it. They always wanted to
use it as a kind of an instrument in order to frighten us, saying
that if Azerbaijan does that we will recognize. I tell them many
times during this days of war and I tell now, Armenian prime
minister, recognize Nagorno-Karabakh today. Do it. Show your
courage. Show that your words mean something. Recognize
Nagorno-Karabakh today. Again, and you will see that they will not
do it. Because they are cowards. They can fight only against
peaceful civilians and when they see our strength and our unity
they run away.
-Will you be willing to accept an autonomy of the
region?
-This should be part of the future discussions, on the basic
principles. Because the first part of the basic principles demanded
the withdrawal from occupied territories. Five plus two in
time-table, then, there were other elements of the basic
principles, like security, peacekeeping operations, status of
Nagorno-Karabakh and we always were very open to discuss it. We
offered them many times different ways, but they rejected. We
offered them autonomy inside Azerbaijan. We offered them cultural
autonomy, we said that there are good examples in the world, in
Europe, in Scandinavia this Aland Islands, in Italy this South
Tyrol district, in many other. But they rejected everything. They
demanded independence only. And they wanted us to recognize this
independence. By doing that they actually knowing that we will
never do it, they were doing everything to freeze the conflict. So,
I don't know, we need to first to end this hot stage of the
conflict, come back to negotiation table. Armenia should make these
commitments which I already said. And then we can talk about what
will be happening in the future. I cannot say anything about that
now.
-Thank you very much, Mr. President. I really appreciate
your time.
-Thank you very much for your questions, for your interest in
Azerbaijan.
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