BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 22. The peace agreement is Armenia’s last chance, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said, addressing the V Congress of World Azerbaijanis in Shusha city, Trend reports.
“We came up with a peace agenda, but there was no response from Armenia. International organizations also showed little interest in that. So we put forward a proposal consisting of five specific principles, and Armenia has accepted these five principles. Thus, the Armenian leadership has officially stated that it recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and has no territorial claims to Azerbaijan and will not do so in the future. I think this is an important moment for the post-conflict period, and we intend to conduct further negotiations on the basis of these five principles.
At present, the foreign ministers and ministries of the two countries are setting up working groups, and I think that concrete talks should be initiated in the near future. The talks should not be delayed because a peace agreement will be signed on the basis of five principles. Therefore, the text of the agreement can be prepared and signed soon. Thus, the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan can be established, including diplomatic. By making this proposal, we once again show our good intentions and, I repeat, show foresight. The revengeful forces occasionally raising their voices in Armenia should remember that this is the only way out for Armenia, their last chance perhaps. If they refuse, we will not recognize the territorial integrity of Armenia either and will officially declare that. Given the consequences of the second Karabakh war, the Armenian side should understand what this might lead to.
Again, despite all these positive trends, every single one of us – the Azerbaijani government, embassies, diaspora organizations and all activists – should convey the new realities to the world community. You, the Azerbaijanis living abroad, have greater opportunities in this area. In recent years, our diaspora organizations have become very active, both during the second Karabakh war and before. Even despite the physical attacks of Armenian radical forces – they took advantage of their numerical superiority to commit crimes against our activists – the Azerbaijanis had their say, and this must continue to be the case.
In other words, the public of the countries where you live should be made aware, so to speak, of the realities of Azerbaijan, the post-conflict period and the history of our country. I think this is very important. Because historical factors are always very important for the settlement of any conflict through political and other means. And history is obvious. There is no need to go too far. It is enough to inform the international community about the agreements signed in the 19th century – the Kurakchay, Gulustan and Turkmenchay peace treaties. There is no mention of an Armenian population in them. The Kurakchay agreement was signed by Ibrahimkhalil khan of Shusha and Karabakh – this was his official title. After the historical events of the 19th century, a process of resettlement of Armenians to Karabakh began en masse. This is no secret. The world community and experts are already aware of this, and it would be good if the general public also knew this. We must inform the international community about the injustices committed against the Azerbaijani people, the resettlement of Armenians to Azerbaijani lands in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is a historical fact that Zangazur was severed from the rest of Azerbaijan and handed over to Armenia by the Soviet government in 1920. The fact that the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic ceded Iravan to Armenia two years prior to that is also a well-documented fact. In 1921, the Soviet government was preparing to perpetrate yet another provocation against us. Zangazur was taken away from us in November 1920, and a year later the Caucasus Bureau wanted to take Karabakh away from us as well. However, it didn’t work and the decision was made to keep Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan. Nevertheless, a year and a half later, on 7 July 1923, a completely unfounded and artificial entity was established in the territory of Azerbaijan – the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region. There was no basis for that. At that time, the number of Azerbaijanis living in the present-day Armenia was probably twice as high as that of Armenians living in Karabakh, but for some reason, this autonomous region was established here, not there. They created it and, at the same time, included the ancient Azerbaijani city Shusha in it in an effort to make Shusha Armenian. Because Shusha was the only outstanding fortress, and as you probably know very well, all the roads to Shusha passed through places inhabited by Armenians. In other words, in order to come to Shusha, it was necessary to pass through the villages inhabited by Armenians. We have now built Victory Road. Our soldiers and officers paved Victory Road with their feet – through those mountains, valleys and forests. So it was another provocation. In other words, in order to take Shusha away from us and make it Armenian, they included Shusha in this artificial entity. But it didn’t work, no matter how hard they tried. Shusha has always preserved its national spirit and the Armenians could not make Shusha Armenian during the occupation,” said the head of state.