President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan addresses the Islamic Development Bank Group on Jun. 18
As Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan continues to hail “peace” with Azerbaijan, that country’s president, Ilham Aliyev, continues to attack Armenia in his public remarks and during appearances.
The latest such attack came on Thursday when he told the annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank Group that “Azerbaijani territories have been under occupation for 30 years, and meaningless negotiations have been held during that time.”
He, once again, targeted the now-defunct OSCE Minks Group, saying “their only goal was to maintain Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani territories.”
“The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs—France, Russia, and the United States, which are permanent members of the UN Security Council and had a mandate to achieve peace and liberate our territories from occupation, were unable to force Armenia to leave the Azerbaijani territories,” Aliyev said.
“At the beginning of the negotiation process, we had high hopes. We were trying to resolve the issue peacefully, trying to explain to the great powers that the truth is on our side, because our territories were occupied. In response, they were telling us ‘go and negotiate.’ This was only one of the messages. The second was that there is no other solution. The third was that ‘you cannot start a war,’ and the fourth was that ‘if you start a war, sanctions will be applied against you,’” he added.
Aliyev once again baselessly accused Armenia of committing crimes.
“Today, there is a lot of talk about sanctions. When these or those events take place in different parts of the world, sanctions immediately come into force. Meanwhile, during the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, such steps were not taken against Armenia. This is a vivid example of double standards and a serious contradiction between declared values and real policy,” Aliyev said.
In addition, he stated that Azerbaijan allegedly offered peace to Armenia, despite the fact that it “suffered from occupation and destruction.”
“Azerbaijan and Armenia have been living in peace for a year now and see its advantages. We will never forget what the Armenian occupation forces did to our people and cities,” the Azerbaijani president added.
Meanwhile, in Nakhichevan where a festival of so-called “Western Azerbaijanis” kicked off on Thursday, a leader of that fictitious community, Aziz Alakbarli, said that Armenia must create conditions for the safe return his people.
The concept of “Western Azerbaijan” has been propagated by Aliyev, who claims that the majority of modern-day Armenia is historic Azerbaijani territory and is insisting that these so-called “Western Azerbaijanis” resettle in Armenia.
Alakbarli noted that Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan “has also witnessed the tragedies suffered by Western Azerbaijanis,” and in this context, holding such events here has a special significance.
He stated that “the return of Western Azerbaijanis to their native lands corresponds to fundamental human rights and international law.”
The chairman of the council of the “Western Azerbaijan community” added that “Armenia must accept this reality and create conditions for the safe, dignified, and peaceful return of Western Azerbaijanis.”
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