Ilham Aliyev: "They need to make a choice between very bad and acceptable"
Aliyev’s interview with Euronews TV channel
“They are not allowed to choose between good and better. They need to make a choice between the very bad and the acceptable,” Ilham Aliyev said, meaning the Armenian government. The President of Azerbaijan also talked about the fate of the Armenians of Karabakh: “They must choose whether to live as citizens of Azerbaijan, just like any other ethnic minority that Azerbaijan is so rich in, or leave. This is their choice”.
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On the decision of the International Court of Justice and the activities of the Red Cross
Answering a journalist’s question about the establishment of the Lachin border checkpoint on the border with Armenia, Aliyev noted that the checkpoint appeared after the protest by Azerbaijani activists on the Lachin road ended:
“The International Court of Justice actually addressed its message to us to communicate with civil society activists not to disrupt any kind of movement. And we did it.
As soon as we establish the border checkpoint on our border with Armenia, which is our legitimate right and not contested by anyone, including the International Court of Justice, we communicated it through my representative here in Shusha, with NGOs representatives for them to stop. And they stopped, they left. So now freedom of movement is not blocked. Since we established the border checkpoint on the 23rd of April, there have been more than 2000 residents of Karabakh who easily moved to Armenia and back.”
He also commented on the discovery of contraband in Red Cross vehicles:
“On 15th of June, Armenia made another military provocation and wounded one of our border security guards. The road was temporarily closed for investigation. But then, it was reopened.
The Red Cross restarted again to transport medications and evacuate patients who need treatment in Armenia. But unfortunately, the Red Cross trucks when checked, we found smuggling goods like cigarettes, iPhones, and gasoline. The Red Cross admitted that. They communicated with us saying that they do not bear any responsibility because. But these trucks had their logos, and the drivers had their logos on their uniform. So that’s how again it was blocked.
And we asked from the Red Cross to stop it and also asked them to work with us more constructively. Unfortunately, until today, their office in Karabakh has been subordinated not to Baku office, but to Yerevan offices. This is not acceptable. Because the whole world recognizes Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. Even the Armenian Prime Minister said many times that “Karabakh is Azerbaijan”. That is our legitimate request as to why the Red Cross Khankendi office is not subordinate to Baku office but to Yerevan office.”
Aliyev’s interview with Euronews TV channel
About the fate of the Karabakh Armenians
“People who live in Karabakh — they live in Azerbaijan. They should choose whether to live as citizens of Azerbaijan as ethnic minority, as any other ethnic minority, which Azerbaijan is rich of or to leave. So this is their choice.
It is not because we want them to leave or as Armenia accuses us we organize ethnic cleansing. No, we give them a choice. How they can live on our territory being a citizen of either Armenia, without any legal permission, or a citizen of so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh republic”, which is not recognized by anyone? So, I think this is a legitimate approach, which is in line with international practice. It’s in line with practice, which we see in many European countries, which also fight against separatism.”
“Now we see how Europe and the West is united to help Ukraine to fight against separatism. And why in our case our fight against separatism is treated differently? Why Georgia’s approach to separatist regions is fully understood by Western communities and politicians, and our legitimate, the same origin desire, to put an end to separatism is under question? Why does Spain not allow Catalonia to have a referendum though there are five or six million? They don’t have their own state unlike Armenians, who have a state next door. Why should we tolerate separatism? We will not.”
Aliyev addresses the people and government of Armenia
The Euronews correspondent suggested that Aliyev appeal to the people of Armenia. Aliyev replied that this is the first time such a proposal has been addressed to him, and he formulated his thoughts as follows:
“I think I would separate the question in two. First, if they listen to what I say, my message to Armenians in Armenia that we want to have peace with their state, we don’t have territorial claims to Armenia though hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis lived in Armenia before the war were totally ethnically cleansed, and their cultural and religious heritage was totally destroyed. Nevertheless, we don’t have any territorial claims. We think that Azerbaijanis, who were deported forcefully from Armenia, have a right to return when Azerbaijan and Armenia will normalize their relations and establish diplomatic relations.
Another message to them is to clearly realize the current geopolitical situation and the balance of forces. For many years, leaders of Armenia were persuading their people that they have the strongest army in the world, that if the war starts they will come to Baku and that Azerbaijan will not fight for its lands, already agreed with occupation. All these narratives were absolutely false and were nothing more than propaganda. So, the war destroyed those narratives and not only that. It also destroyed a lot of ideological columns of the Armenian state. They realized that they lost the war and most probably it was very painful for them psychologically. So now, when we say that we want peace, it’s not because we are weak and we are seeking peace. No, they know that we are much stronger. It’s because we want this black page of our history to be turned down. We don’t want another war either today or ever in the future.
Aliyev’s interview with Euronews TV channel
So for Armenian community, I think they should not oppose peace initiatives of international community. They should understand that if they don’t sign peace agreement with Azerbaijan, situation in the future will be unpredictable. Geopolitical situation in the world and in the region is changing as we see very dramatically. And part of their hopes for their security vanished completely. Now they’re looking for new security guarantors. Who is ready to have a standoff with Azerbaijan on the battlefield in this area, especially after what we demonstrated during the war and after we increased our defense capability after the war? Is there anyone ready to fight for Armenians against us? I doubt it.
So also another message, which I already conveyed to the Armenian government, is that in this particular situation for them the choice is not the best and the very best. For them the choice is among very bad and acceptable, but acceptable based on common sense, on international law, and on recognizing the rights of Azerbaijanis to live on their own land, which they deprived us for 30 years.”
Aliyev’s interview with Euronews TV channel
