Author: Frangulian Shushan

The President of Azerbaijan stated that the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh has been resolved. According to him, the OSCE Minsk Group has completed its activities. “If we define the borders, then what status of NK is there to talk about?”, Aliyev said, speaking at the opening of a smart village in the Zangilan region, which returned under the control of Azerbaijan as a result of the second Karabakh war.

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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attended the opening of the first stage of the smart village of Agali in the Zangilan region, which returned under Baku’s control as a result of the second Karabakh war.

Smart village Agali in the Zangilan region of Azerbaijan. Photo: AzərTAc

Aliyev also visited the construction site of the international airport in Zangilan.

Azerbaijan plans to build three international airports in the territories returned to the country’s control after the 44-day war in 2020. The first of them, Fizuli, was put into operation in October 2021. The Zangilan airport should be operational by the end of this year. The commissioning of the Lachin airport is scheduled for 2024.

In his speech at the opening of a smart village in the Zangilan region, Ilham Aliyev said that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is done and dusted:

“We have resolved this issue. Whether Armenia wants it or not, the whole world has already accepted it. We have resolved the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

As for the administrative territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, there is no such territory in Azerbaijan. Therefore, Nagorno-Karabakh is not in the lexicon of international organizations, and the meeting in Brussels proved this. Yes, in Armenia they once again started a fuss because of this, but these is the reality, and they are forced to come to terms with it”.

“The OSCE Minsk Group has completed its activities. I have already spoken about this, and I see no reason to repeat myself.

We are now in a post-conflict period. We live in this period and dictate the agenda in the post-conflict period. We have achieved everything we have done in these one and a half years. We have achieved or are achieving everything that I talked about.

First, the whole world, leading countries, and international organizations have accepted the new realities. It was very important, because how could it be otherwise. This is our great political success.

And secondly, our agenda is accepted by leading international organizations as the basis”, the President of Azerbaijan said.

In his speech, Aliyev also touched upon the issue of negotiations on the delimitation of the state border with Armenia:

“I said that we should define the borders with Armenia. Armenia refused, and did not agree to do this for six months. And what did they come to? On May 24, the first meeting of the commissions took place on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border. This is of great importance.

From the point of view that we will define these boundaries and this is important. Because the Armenians occupied the borders. On the other hand, this officially puts an end to the territorial claims of the revanchist forces in Armenia against Azerbaijan.

If we define the borders, then what status of “Nagorno-Karabakh” can we talk about? There is the Karabakh zone, the Karabakh region. This is the territory of Azerbaijan and the whole world recognizes it.

For this reason, the first meeting of the commissions on the delimitation of the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia is of great importance”.

“We said that a peace treaty should be signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia tried to evade this. Because a peace treaty means recognition of each other’s territorial integrity. But in the end, we achieved this and Azerbaijan has already identified a working group on this issue.

Another important issue is the opening of the Zangezur corridor. According to the official statement, after the meeting in Brussels, the railway and road routes will pass through Meghri, Zangezur,” Ilham Aliyev said.

The President of Azerbaijan noted that he does not see any problems in the living of Armenians, either in Karabakh or in other parts of the country:

“Representatives of many peoples live normally in Azerbaijan and enjoy all the rights. There has never been discrimination on national and religious grounds in Azerbaijan. Therefore, the rights and security of the Armenians living in Azerbaijan are as important as the rights and security of other peoples inhabiting the country.

There is such experience all over the world, in Europe. There are various conventions to which the countries of the Council of Europe have joined, the EU also has its own rules and official documents. Everything is indicated there, and we are moving along these universal human trends.

But if Armenia puts forward some special demands, we may also have our own demands. Here, not far from this place where I am now standing, is our ancient land – Western Zangezur.

We do not make territorial claims against Armenia, do we? We don’t perform. But if they start making territorial claims against us, why don’t we do the same? There is a story. Let them open books, encyclopedias: when was Western Zangezur separated from Azerbaijan and given to Armenia? November 1920.”