Azerbaijan: Between geopolitics and achievements How 2025 confirmed Aliyev’s leadership

Another calendar year is drawing to a close. Reviewing some of its key outcomes for Azerbaijan through the prism of global geopolitics, we have addressed aspects linked to significant steps that led to major successes for the country in enhancing its international standing. In this context, it is no less important to demonstrate how the implementation of these elements once again confirmed a fact that has become a historical reality: the consistency between the words (promises) of the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and his actions. And to avoid being unfounded, let us take a brief look back at the final day of last year, when, summing up its results, the head of state made a number of important statements with regard to the year ahead—2025—which was then just beginning and is now reaching the end of its 365-day cycle.

First and foremost, President Aliyev, noting the stability, calm, and security prevailing in the country against the backdrop of ongoing bloody conflicts around the world, expressed confidence that these conditions “would be eternal.” Readers will surely agree that 2025 has fully—and without reservation—confirmed the accuracy of this statement at the present historical stage.

Later, on the night of January 1, 2025, the head of state voiced the hope that Armenia would henceforth take into account the new realities that had emerged in the South Caucasus—realities created by Azerbaijan and firmly established in the diplomatic, international, and political arenas. As President Aliyev emphasised at the time, these realities had already been accepted by the entire world.

So what has followed? Is there anyone today on the global stage who does not recognise how precisely the President outlined what would in fact unfold over the course of the year—both within the country and across the South Caucasus? And if someone has forgotten this—or prefers not to acknowledge it—they need only look to the August 2025 agreements in Washington, as well as the initialling by Yerevan and Baku of a draft peace agreement based on principles previously put forward by Azerbaijan.

At the same time, we would also suggest recalling how, in the global arena at the current historical stage, the Zangezur Corridor is increasingly being referred to.

Meanwhile, a year ago, when emphasising the importance of the South Caucasus evolving into a region of peace, stability, and cooperation, the President of Azerbaijan made it clear that the thirty-year occupation, the destruction and devastation of Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, the Khojaly genocide, and the fact that one million of our citizens were turned—through Armenia’s actions—into refugees and internally displaced persons would never be erased from national memory. Events throughout this year have fully confirmed the accuracy of President Ilham Aliyev’s words.

Yes, Azerbaijan, acting in line with its commitment to peace, resolved the issue of grain transit to Armenia through its territory and later ensured direct supplies of Azerbaijani fuel to the neighbouring country. Yet only days ago, President Aliyev once again stressed that historical memory must always remain alive in our hearts—and that only by remembering our past can we live in lasting peace and security in the future.

A year ago, the head of state also noted that around 10,000 former internally displaced persons had returned to the lands of Karabakh and East Zangezur liberated from occupation, adding that in 2025 this number would increase significantly. Now let us look at the following figures: on December 25–26 of this year alone, within the framework of the “Great Return” programme, 11 families (48 people) moved into new apartments in the village of Seyidbayli in the Khojaly district; 64 families (278 people) returned to the village of Khidirli in the Aghdam district; 83 families (308 people) to Aghdam city; and 29 families (147 people) to the village of Mammadbayli in the Zangilan district. Let us reiterate that these are figures for just two calendar days. Overall, more than 62,000 people are currently living in the liberated territories, and in the coming years it is planned to resettle 140,000 people in these lands.

In his New Year address to the Azerbaijani people a year ago, President Ilham Aliyev also noted that the country’s foreign currency reserves had exceeded $72 billion, while external debt stood at just $5.2 billion, stressing that reserves surpassed external debt by fourteen times. Against this backdrop, the country’s leader emphasised the continued development of the national economy.

Said and done. In November 2025, President Aliyev highlighted that Azerbaijan’s foreign currency reserves had surpassed $80 billion—16 times greater than the country’s external debt—reflecting consistent annual growth. This economic and financial stability enables the nation to carry out large-scale investment projects, with Karabakh and East Zangezur remaining the main focus.

These achievements clearly demonstrate that nearly all of the goals outlined by the President are being realised. At the same time, alongside infrastructure and residential developments, social service facilities are being established in the lands liberated from occupation—an unmistakable sign of the immense prospects of the “Great Return.”

This course of history firmly confirms that President Ilham Aliyev’s leadership is real and effective. It is precisely this quality that sets him apart from those who merely claim to lead a state. Perhaps it also reveals a subtle truth: in countries traditionally seen as the most advanced, politicians at the helm are often little more than managers or administrators. This perspective helps explain the geopolitical upheavals the world has witnessed in recent years.

Azerbaijan, however, is moving forward with confidence!