Azerbaijani leader raps Armenia for mine terror, highlights nation's demining efforts

Addressing the Shusha event on July 21, the Azerbaijani president said that Armenia publicly accepted that Karabakh is Azerbaijan and now they need to put their signature under the document.

“At the moment, we have three international actors who are assisting - the United States, Russia, and the European Union. And on three tracks, Azerbaijan works in good faith. And on three tracks, Azerbaijan works in good faith and with a result-oriented approach. But so far, it did not end in any result,” Ilham Aliyev said.

The president thinks that Yerevan needs to make the final steps.

“Because Armenia needs to make, I think, one of the final steps. They already made several steps after the war, I would say that these were not the steps, which they made voluntarily. There have been several cases during the last two-and-a-half years, several episodes. I would name it like it clearly demonstrated to Armenia that if they do not recognize our territorial integrity, we will not recognize their territorial integrity. And what will mean for them is more or less clear. They have already publicly accepted that Karabakh is Azerbaijan. Now they need to put their signature under the document. And this is one of the final steps and there must be some more,” the president underscored.

Ilham Aliyev believes that Armenia’s rejection to provide Baku with Karabakh minefield maps is a continuation of Armenian terror.

“Landmines already claimed almost 300 lives and serious injuries to our civilians and military personnel. So, 300 mine explosions on the liberated territories, because of these war crimes,” Aliyev said.

The president added that planting landmines is a war crime.

“However, not giving us the maps of landmines is a continuation of the Armenian terror. Because we know that they have it. This is how the mines are being planted. Those, who plant the mines, they have to have a map. Otherwise, they themselves can be victims of those mines. They first denied on a very high level, on the level of the Armenian prime minister that they have mine maps. But we knew they have. Then, finally, they admitted that they have it,” the president noted,Azartac reports.

The president specified that the country is undertaking very serious efforts in demining.

“We are undertaking very serious efforts in demining. We purchased equipment, special machines, the mining machines. One of our local companies started to produce demining machines in Azerbaijan.”

Ilham Aliyev further added that over “1 million mines have been planted. The maps, which Armenians gave us, cover about 400,000. That means that they admitted that 400,000 have been planted, but we know that it is more than 1 million. So, it's very credible information,” Aliyev emphasized.

President Ilham Aliyev also addressed IDPs, adding that “we started to use drones thanks to the good brains of some people,” Azartac says.

There are drones now, which detect the most contaminated places by mines and it is helpful. But at the same time, we can understand that it's a long process, Ilham Aliyev added.

Armenia’s mine terror is continuing and the most important is the fact that the areas, which have not yet been cleaned, are isolated now.

Restricted access to the liberated territories helps us to minimize the casualties. But after the former IDPs will return, after they return, they must be very careful. I want just to use this opportunity once again to address them, the head of state noted.

President Ilham has said that two more European nations will receive Azerbaijani gas by the end of 2023.

“The Southern Gas Corridor project was successfully implemented, and already for more than two years Azerbaijan became an important gas supplier to Europe,” the Azerbaijani leader said as he addressed the Shusha Global Media Forum on “New Media in the Era of the 4th Industrial Revolution”.

Ilham Aliyev said the European Commission president named Azerbaijan a reliable partner, and “the Energy Commissioner of EU calls Azerbaijan a pan-European gas supplier”.

The president added that this is true because the geography of “our gas supplies to Europe is becoming broader and broader, and hopefully by the end of this year, two more countries, two more European countries will be recipients of Azerbaijani gas,” Azartac added.

Addressing the global media forum, the president also spoke about the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline project, Azartac reports. 

“Concerning the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline project. This project is an idea based on the gas resources of Turkmenistan. Therefore, it's not up to us to initiate it or to invest in it,” the president elaborated.

As for Azerbaijan’s role to this effect, the president added that “we can provide our existing infrastructure or can provide infrastructure - some land in their possession to build a new infrastructure”.

It is also important to know that today, the president said, Azerbaijan is working on the expansion of the pipeline, which was built less than three years ago.