President Aliyev: Initialled peace agreement puts end to Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has declared that the peace agreement reached with Armenia marks the formal conclusion of the decades-long conflict between the two countries.

“We are also the authors of the peace agreement with Armenia, and our position has always serves as the basis for drafting those clauses. The fact that this document has been initialed actually puts an end to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict,” Aliyev said during a meeting with residents of Kalbajar on August 21, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

The head of state also announced that the long-sought overland connection with Nakhchivan has been secured. “At the same time, an overland connection with our historical homeland of Nakhchivan has also been secured,” he noted.

Aliyev said that the reconciliation process with Armenia is close to its final stage. “The Armenia-Azerbaijan reconciliation process is nearly complete, and the signed documents fully meet our interests,” he told Kalbajar residents.

The president also underscored the diminished role of the OSCE Minsk Group. “We have achieved what we wanted; the infamous Minsk Group is now living its final days. In fact, it was not functioning and could not function. However, it still existed legally, but now its end is approaching,” he emphasised.

Reflecting on the post-war period, Aliyev said that ending hostilities in 2020 had been the right choice. “History showed again that the cessation of the war on November 10, 2020 was the most correct step. However, at that time, part of our lands were still not under our control. From that time until September 19, 2023, our main goal was to fully restore the sovereignty of our country,” he stated.

He highlighted several decisive military and strategic moves that followed. “Both the elimination of the so-called Lachin corridor and the transformation of it into the Lachin-Khankendi road, the establishment of a checkpoint in the Lachin direction on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and, at the same time, the capture of important strategic heights from November 2020 to September 2023, the Farrukh, Girkhgiz and Saribaba operations – all this is our glorious history and all this was part of our consistent policy,” Aliyev underlined.

The president further revealed details regarding Armenia’s military supplies. “The cost of the weapons the Armenian army received from abroad, which we destroyed in the Second Karabakh War and the anti-terrorist operation and took as military booty, amounted to approximately 5-6 billion dollars. Of course, Armenia did not have the money to buy so many weapons. All these weapons were given to them for free, for the purpose of continuing the occupation, for the purpose of ensuring that Azerbaijanis could never return to their ancestral lands, for the purpose of ensuring that this conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan was not resolved peacefully,” he said.

By Khagan Isayev