Azerbaijan sets ultimatum: Baku to conduct anti-terrorist operation again if needed
Exclusive video footage from Khojaly

POLITICS  16 May 2023 - 17:15

Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that the personnel of Armenian armed forces and paramilitary detachments, including Armenian citizens, continue to illegally stay on the territory of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh economic region.

According to Azerbaijan’s estimates, there are up to 10,000 Armenian servicemen on its territory, which is a flagrant violation of the provisions of the Trilateral Statement.

Caliber.Az presents to the attention of subscribers new footage that has come into the possession of its editorial office and confirms that the Armenian military personnel are carrying out live firing at the military training ground in Khojaly.

Yes, installing a border checkpoint in the Lachin district was an absolutely necessary step to establish order on the road and exclude the possibility of military replenishment of the Armenian units located in Karabakh. But these measures are categorically not enough to ensure the safety of Azerbaijani citizens, who at one time were subjected to ethnic cleansing by the Armenian regime, and today are returning to their homes.

The return process has already begun, and it is planned to resettle 42,000 people only in the city of Aghdam and the surrounding villages by 2026. In the initial stage, it is planned to return about 10,000 civilians to Aghdam.

But is it possible to plan the return of Azerbaijani citizens at a time when Armenian gangs are still in Khojaly? Obviously not!

In this regard, now there are three possible ways out of this situation.

First, an unlikely one: the immediate and unconditional disbandment of the Armenian units and their withdrawal from Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region. If desired, there are “peaceful” levers: any financing of the separatist regime in Karabakh is stopped from the state budget of Armenia, and the “army” left without financial support will be disbanded very quickly. In the meantime, we see the opposite picture - the Armenian budget continues to allocate generous appropriations to the separatist regime.

The second option: the Russian peacekeeping contingent itself takes control of the disbandment of the Armenian military personnel and, in close coordination with the power bloc of Azerbaijan, ensures their withdrawal from the territory of Azerbaijan.

The third option: if the Russian peacekeeping contingent cannot fulfil this task, then Azerbaijan will conduct an anti-terrorist operation on its own territory to restore constitutional order and eliminate any security threats. This experience already exists, and let everyone be sure that Baku will apply it again.

Caliber.Az