Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev delivers ultimatum to Armenia over Karabakh
On the thirteenth day after the outbreak of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has made a public address to the people, effectively giving an ultimatum to Armenia to withdraw from Karabakh.
The full video of his speech can be found here.
JAMnews has selected some of the main messages from his speech. Aliyev claims:
• Azerbaijan is liberating lands under occupation. Good news comes from the front every day.
• The operational plan is being fully implemented. The Azerbaijani army today has complete superiority both in terms of material and technical equipment and in combat training.
• From September 27 to this day the Armenian army has been dealt a very big blow.
• [Armenia] is telling fairy tales to its people, deceiving them. The facts are falsified, as if they are going on the attack, returning the positions Azerbaijan has occupied. This is all a lie.
• Today, the state flag of Azerbaijan flies in the liberated territories. Our soldiers guard their lands in the trenches that were built by the enemy. We use captured tanks – there are 18 of them. Now their tanks are fighting against them.
• The enemy is in a panic and has fallen into hysterics. It calls on different countries, leaders of different countries, asking for help several times a day, begs. Throws himself at their feet, says ‘save us.’ The only way out for them is to leave our land. We have repeatedly said to leave our territories of their own free will. Follow the resolutions of the UN Security Council, or else you will regret it.
• ‘Did you think Azerbaijan would put up with this situation? We will not accept. We put them in their place, we are driving them out in such a way that they will never forget.’
• ‘Today we are forcing the occupier to peace. This is the main goal of the operation. We showed them that we are winning on the battlefield, internationally and at the political level. We will return our lands and restore territorial integrity.’
• ‘But we are giving the occupier one last chance to get out of our lands. Leave, make commitments, return to negotiations, to the negotiation format. You can’t talk to us like that. Let’s see how after that he [Pashinyan] will say: “Karabakh is Armenia”. If he does, there can be no talk of any negotiations.’
• ‘We will never agree to negotiate with a bandit – the head of the so-called. Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. This will never happen.’
• ‘From now on everything will be according to our conditions. What we say will be so. We are giving them a chance to leave our territory peacefully.’
• ‘One way or another, we will return to our lands, restore territorial integrity. But we do not want blood to be shed, we do not want victims. Go and live in your country.’
• ‘In July [the escalation at the Azerbaijani-Armenian border on July 12-16, 2020], we could easily have had enough territory in Armenia itself, but I did not allow it. We do not need other people’s lands, but we will not give our own to anyone.’
• We have heard many times from any mediators that this conflict has no military solution. But I said that I did not agree with this, and I was right. Negotiations have been going on for thirty years, and no issue has moved forward. Not a single centimeter of land was returned to us. How is everything solved now? Isn’t this the military path? It is by military means that it is allowed. The military, and after the political.’
• ‘If we had not inflicted such a tangible blow on the enemy, would he have run to Moscow? We made them do so. Where is your “heroism”? He [Pashinyan] said that Karabakh is Armenia. Karabakh is Azerbaijan! Everyone should know this.’
• ‘I repeat once again: if there are speculations after the Moscow talks, they will regret it. We will return our lands – be it peacefully, be it militarily. We give them a last chance to Armenia.’
• ‘There is no longer any status quo that was always talked about. We have changed the status quo. There is no more line of contact. We broke through it. They say there will be a new line of contact? There will not be. We will return our lands. We are winning a historic victory.’
