Category: 2020

BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 14

Trend:

Parliamentary elections showed again that people value our political course highly, said Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev addressing the first session of the Azerbaijani Parliament’s sixth convocation on March 10, Trend reports.

“The Milli Majlis of the sixth convocation begins its work today. I heartily congratulate all the MPs on this occasion and wish you success. First of all, I want to express my gratitude to members of the Milli Majlis of the fifth convocation for their activities. The Milli Majlis of the fifth convocation, its members and leaders played a major role in the successful development of our country. The laws adopted by the parliament have strengthened the legal foundations of our successful development. I am sure that the Milli Majlis of the sixth convocation will also work successfully and thus contribute to the wide-ranging and comprehensive reforms under way in our country, to deepening them,” said the head of state.

He noted that the parliamentary elections held on 9 February became an important event in the life of our country.

“All elections are important, but the latest were special because they were early elections. The main reason for holding these elections in February was to deepen the reforms and organize the work of the new Milli Majlis without wasting any time. I believe that the elections were successful and there was a lot of interest in them this time. Clear evidence of this is the participation of more than 1300 candidates in the elections. Of course, candidates were able to carry out extensive work, freely convey their thoughts, views and ideas to the voters. Equal conditions were created for all the candidates and there was no discrimination. In fact, the participation of more than 1300 candidates is a manifestation of their confidence in the elections. I believe that in general the electoral process was successful and the results reflect the will of the Azerbaijani people. The key thing is that the Azerbaijani people were satisfied with the elections, as once again witnessed by the events observed after the elections,” said the head of state.

“We invited many international organizations and observers to follow the elections, and the vast majority of them very positively evaluated the period of preparations, the campaigning and the voting day,” he said.

“It is possible to say that the vast majority of observers assessed the elections as yet another successful step towards the development of democracy and stated that the Azerbaijani people freely exercises their suffrage and the election results reflect the real picture. The international observers who declared this, of course, reflected the real state of affairs. At the same time, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and some organizations under its influence, which always approach the electoral process in Azerbaijan through the prism of double standards and bias, have again tried to exaggerate some minor irregularities in order to present them as a major event. No elections are perfect. There were shortcomings this time too and the cancellation of results in four districts shows that Azerbaijan itself is interested in not having such shortcomings. Post-election processes have once again demonstrated that our intention was to enable Azerbaijani people to freely exercise their suffrage and vote for their candidate, thus expressing their opinion and political will. In general, we succeeded in doing that, and the picture observed after the election shows that the Azerbaijani people agreed with the election results. This is the main thing for us,” said the head of state.

President Ilham Aliyev said at the same time he believes that the European Union made a very objective statement in connection with the elections.

“It expressed its readiness to work with the newly-elected MPs, the Azerbaijani parliament. This essentially means recognition of the elections. As for the opinion of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, apparently due to the absence of serious incidents, it had to present its report in a somewhat balanced manner this time. However, we have long known that their reports are written before elections. We also know where they are written. In addition, the recent statements by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and its assessment of the elections in some countries show again how biased and prejudiced they are. This shows that this organization is fulfilling a political order. The latest example was the parliamentary elections held in Armenia in 2018. As you know, those elections were completely rigged by the then ruling fascist party of the Republicans. I call this party fascist not only because of their ideology and essence, but also because it is enough to look at their emblem to understand that it doesn’t differ much from the emblem of fascist Germany. And the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights gave a positive conclusion on those rigged elections, during which the Republican Party appropriated more than 50 percent of the votes. In other words, it became an accomplice in this falsification, and the events that followed are known to all,” said the head of state.

President Ilham Aliyev noted that after that, this illegal and corrupt regime was overthrown, the deputies allegedly representing them in the Armenian parliament surrendered, raised their hands up and stepped aside with a miserable look.

“New parliamentary elections were called, and the fascist Republican Party was not able to get into parliament at all. What does this suggest? This suggests that the results of the elections that had been rigged two or three months prior to these elections were evident, but the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights expressed a positive opinion about this rigging. So by citing this as an example, I want to say again that the opinion of this organization does not mean anything at all to us because it is written on the basis of a political order and serves, as it were, a means of pressure for leading circles of some states. I want to mention another issue related to observers. Honestly, I was surprised by this too. I can say that in the current elections we saw all the organizations we invited as observers. However, we did not send an invitation to the European Parliament because, firstly, we are not a member of this organization, and secondly, we do not see the need for that for about the same reasons. The European Parliament is the leader in adopting unfair resolutions against Azerbaijan. Their resolutions have absolutely no meaning for us too. However, I must say that such trends against us are still being observed today. So we did not invite this organization. But they circulated a statement that they refuse to observe these elections. This, to put it mildly, is a political falsification because we did not invite you, we don’t want to see you here and we don’t believe you. This being the case, to say that they are refusing to observe the elections is ridiculous and surprising,” said the head of state.

“In other words, the elections showed again that the people value our political course highly,” said President Ilham Aliyev.

“I believe that post-election processes will develop in a positive direction. The Milli Majlis of the sixth convocation is a multi-party parliament. This is a very positive sign. I believe that the Milli Majlis will and should play a huge role in improving the political system. All political forces took part in the elections. The marginal group calling itself the opposition allegedly boycotted the elections. This is ridiculous because the Azerbaijani people have long boycotted this disgraceful entity which has been in the dustbin of history for 27 years. Under such circumstances, the announcement of a boycott is both funny and surprising,” said the head of state.

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Mar.14

Trend:

It took Armenian Foreign Ministry four days to understand the speech of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the Parliament and prepare a statement, Spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Leyla Abdullayeva told Trend.

“At the first meeting of the Parliament, President Ilham Aliyev made a keynote speech, and, as always, the president delivered it without looking at any notes. During the speech, the head of state, referring to historical facts, delivered another strike at Armenia. In particular, the president referred to the Kurekchay Treaty of 1805. We recommend the Armenian Foreign Ministry to study the Kurekchay Treaty; it would even be useful to prepare a brochure on this agreement. Their scrutiny of this treaty would allow to move to the conclusion of a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Abdullayeva noted.

According to her, everyone who reads this historical treatise sees that Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan’s native land.

“On the one hand, the agreement was signed by Ibrahim-Khalil Khan, governor of Garabakh Khanate, and on the other hand, by Tsitsianov, Russia’s High Commissioner of the Caucasus. As the President Ilham Aliyev said, the Kurekchay Treaty does not contain even a sentence about the Armenian people or community. The president’s words about toponyms reflect the whole truth. In this regard, it is enough to look at maps and web-resources so that the Armenian side can find out the true facts; for example, Yeghegnadzor’s original name is Keshishkend, the Hrazdan River’s original name is Zangi, and the Sevan Lake is historically Azerbaijani lake of Goycha “, said Abdullayeva.

The spokesperson for the Azerbaijani MFA emphasized that in his speech, President Ilham Aliyev also touched on issues related to the Republican Party of Armenia.

“The coat of arms of the Republican Party, which has long been in power in Armenia, was identical to Nazi symbols. However, the statement by the Armenian Foreign Ministry did not mention this fact; it was simply passed over in silence. In Armenia, former government officials and ex-presidents of this country have been prosecuted and arrested. Robert Kocharyan has been detained for a year on a number of charges, and Sargsyan is accused of corruption,” the spokesperson added.

“In fact, these two people should be prosecuted for the Khojaly genocide of 1992 and crimes against humanity. Talking about democracy in the context of the detention of one ex-president and the prosecution of another is ridiculous and absurd. Recently, the head of the Armenian government has filed accusation against judge of the Constitutional Court for an expensive pen, and a nationwide referendum is being organized. This policy, pursued by the Armenian government, is in fact a big attack on democracy,” Abdullayeva noted.

According to her, the shameful actions of the Armenian prime minister in the subway clearly show how much disrespectful he is in the country.

“People don’t even greet him, and the fact that a young woman throws a sheet of paper torn by her in his face demonstrates to what extent he lost respect of others. Islamophobia and xenophobia blossom in Armenia, where 99.9 percent of the population are Armenians, while Azerbaijan is a multi-confessional and multi-ethnic state”, Abdullayeva said.

“In his speech, President Ilham Aliyev mentioned the statements on this issue by world religious leaders, in particular the Pope, made in connection with Azerbaijan. At the same time, so far we have never heard from the world religious leaders a word about multi-confessionality in Armenia. This is because Armenia, in fact, pursues a fascist and xenophobic policy”, the spokesperson noted.

“All these years, Armenian youth has been brought up in the spirit of the fascism ideology. Presentation by Armenia of itself as a long-suffering nation is nothing but self-humiliation and speculation with a false history. It’s no secret for anyone that the current government of Armenia is illegitimate,” she said.

The spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry stressed that the ongoing repressions conducted by the Armenian authorities against their political rivals openly demonstrate their anti-democratic and anti-human nature.

“As for Azerbaijan’s ties with European structures, President Ilham Aliyev positively assessed Azerbaijan’s ties with the European Union. Azerbaijan will continue to expose those individuals in some European structures who, under the influence of Armenia, are carrying out dirty intentions regarding Azerbaijan,” Abdullayeva noted.

“We would advise Armenian MFA not to interfere in relations between Azerbaijan and European structures. We know well that Armenia’s negotiations with the agencies and with other partners fully contradict each other. Even during contacts with Europe, Armenia comes out with the allegation that if there weren’t some of its allies and partners, the country would be yet closer to Europe. This is another example of a hypocritical policy pursued by Armenia”, the spokesperson said.

“The fact that the Armenian Foreign Ministry was able to write just a single piece of paper in four days speaks about limited intellectual capacities. All of the above are signs that Armenia is pursuing an irresponsible and dangerous policy. This very policy pursued by Armenia poses a serious threat to the regional security. If such irresponsible behavior continues, then Armenia will bear the full responsibility for the aggravation of the situation,” Abdullayeva added.

BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 14

Trend:

We must be active in all organizations in connection with the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev addressing the first session of the Azerbaijani Parliament’s sixth convocation on March 10, Trend reports.

“We must pursue offensive diplomacy because the truth is on our side,” said the head of state.

“In connection with international activities, I want to say that our MPs are represented in several international organizations. Of course, our activity there was quite extensive in previous years. It should be even higher now because we must communicate the realities of Azerbaijan to the world. In particular, we must communicate the historical realities associated with the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” said the president.

“Historical justice is on our side. International law also supports our position,” said President Ilham Aliyev.

“Therefore, the Armenian side cannot put forward a single serious argument against ours – only lies, slander, historical falsification and mythology. This is actually their essence. Within a broad network, they bribe certain politicians. This is no secret to anyone. Under such circumstances, their historical falsification seems to be justified. Therefore, our MPs in all international organizations must present the historical truth. After I mentioned the Kurekchay peace treaty in Munich, I know that people in Armenia are reading it carefully. It clearly indicates who and when concluded this agreement. There is no question of the Armenian people there at all. On the one hand, there was Russian general Tsitsianov and on the other Ibrahim Khan. In fact, it is written in Russian – Ibrahim Khan “of Shusha in Karabakh”. This is real history,” said the head of state.

President Ilham Aliyev noted that suffice it to look at the maps published by the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century to see that the vast majority of place names in the present territory of Armenia are of Azerbaijani origin.

“It is necessary to say all this. It is necessary to show these maps. It is necessary to show the maps of our occupied lands. They must be shown to all international organizations and their representatives working there. At the same time, during meetings with representatives of the parliaments of Muslim countries, it is imperative to show pictures of our mosques destroyed by the Armenians. I am doing that. I show these pictures to the leaders of many Muslim countries. If the broad political elite sees them, the leaders of these countries will be embarrassed to kiss the leaders of Armenia, of course. We must talk about this. We must say that this fascist regime declared war not only on us, but also on the entire Muslim world. Our mosques and historical monuments have been destroyed. However, we cannot communicate this information adequately. Therefore, this should become a special direction,” said the head of state.

“Of course, we must be active in all organizations in connection with the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We must pursue offensive diplomacy because the truth is on our side,” said President Ilham Aliyev.

“The Khojaly genocide. It has already been officially recognized by the parliaments of more than 10 countries. This process should be continued, and MPs should be active in this process because state bodies play a major role in making these decisions. Therefore, the parliament should be active. This is a fact accepted within the framework of international relations. Inappropriate, deceitful and insignificant attempts of Armenia manifested themselves at the Munich Security Conference and exposed them again. Because their whole story is a falsification. They built a state on historically Azerbaijani lands – unfortunately, with the help of our Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. Having changed all our historical names today, they are trying to appropriate our history and monuments. Therefore, MPs must always raise this issue,” said the head of state.