...

The fact that this document has been initialed actually puts an end to Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict - President Ilham Aliyev (FULL SPEECH)

Politics Materials 21 August 2025 20:35 (UTC +04:00)
The fact that this document has been initialed actually puts an end to Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict - President Ilham Aliyev (FULL SPEECH)
Farid Zohrabov
Farid Zohrabov
Read more

BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 21. We are also the authors of the peace agreement with Armenia, and our position has always served as the basis for drafting those clauses. The fact that this document has been initialed actually puts an end to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, said President Ilham Aliyev at a meeting with Kalbajar city residents, Trend reports.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear natives of Kalbajar, welcome to Kalbajar!

It is a historic day in your lives today. You are returning to your native land, to your hometown after 32 years, and I sincerely congratulate you on this occasion. We have restored justice, we have regained our rights, and today's event shows again that the Azerbaijanis are a strong-willed people. The Azerbaijani people are attached to their native land, and despite all the difficulties, not only did we refuse to lose faith during the occupation, but each of us, the entire nation brought this sacred day closer with every day.

The government has created wonderful conditions for you here. The city of Kalbajar is now becoming one of the most scenic cities in the world. You have already been provided with homes in the first residential complex, but the construction work does not end there. In the near future, your relatives and friends will come and settle down in the next residential complexes, the foundation of which I laid today. The construction of four residential complexes in the city of Kalbajar is planned within the framework of the first stage of the Great Return Program. More than 10,000 people will live in these buildings. Of course, all the necessary infrastructure projects have also been implemented. Electricity, water and natural gas have been provided, roads have been built, and mine clearance has been carried out. A beautiful school is now under construction in the city of Kalbajar and it is scheduled for commissioning next year. However, this school year, the children of Kalbajar will study in a modular school.

It is a historic day today also because the largest district of our country, Kalbajar and the city of Kalbajar, are coming back to life, life is returning here, and I am sure that you will live here comfortably. You deserve that. For many years, you lived in difficult conditions: in tents, in adapted buildings, kindergartens, dormitories – in various places. Your life was very hard.

The occupation of Kalbajar was a great tragedy for all of us, as indeed was the occupation of all other Azerbaijani settlements. However, the occupation of Kalbajar created immense problems for Azerbaijan from a strategic point of view because a geographical connection was about to be created between Armenia and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region. The occupation of Shusha and Lachin in May 1992 had already created that connection, and the road called the “Lachin Corridor” at the time had actually paved the way for the future occupation of our lands. The occupation of Kalbajar, on the other hand, had created a geographical connection between Armenia and the former “Nagorno-Karabakh” over a very large geographical area, thus laying the groundwork for the occupation of other Azerbaijani lands. Unfortunately, the then Azerbaijani leadership, pursuing a policy of treachery and betrayal, was unable to protect our native lands. The occupation of Shusha and Lachin in May 1992 was possible as a result of the betrayal of the Popular Front and Musavat duo, which was striving for power at the time. Our impregnable fortress Shusha was almost handed over to the Armenians.

The contemptible duo took advantage of this and came to power a month later, precisely drawing on the tragedy of Shusha and Lachin, unable or unwilling to protect your native lands.

The occupation of Kalbajar in early April 1993 was precisely the result of the evil deeds of the then treacherous leadership. We all remember those days too well. The protracted negotiations did not and could not yield any result. Because, first of all, Armenia had no intention of returning an inch of our lands and joined the negotiations simply for the sake of visibility. Instead of resolving the issue, the three countries - France, Russia and the U.S - were working to freeze the conflict. As a matter of fact, they were going out of their way to give the Armenian occupation a legal guise. That is why the conflict was not resolved peacefully. Had serious sanctions been imposed on Armenia at the time, had the occupying authorities been punished by the great powers, of course, Armenia could have returned our lands peacefully and, I am sure, it would have. There was simply no pressure on them. On the contrary, all opportunities were opened for them. Some countries gave them free weapons worth billions of dollars. The cost of the weapons the Armenian army received from abroad, which we destroyed in the Second Karabakh War and the anti-terrorist operation and took as military booty, amounted to approximately 5-6 billion dollars. Of course, Armenia did not have the money to buy so many weapons. All these weapons were given to them for free, for the purpose of continuing the occupation, for the purpose of ensuring that Azerbaijanis could never return to their ancestral lands, for the purpose of ensuring that this conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan was not resolved peacefully. I have said this many times, and this is absolutely true. I had to participate in these negotiations from 2003 to 2020. I said that the countries that had the mandate to resolve this issue actually wanted to perpetuate the occupation. One provided weapons, another provided political support and the third one provided other privileges. That is why the issue was not resolved. It might have seemed to someone that the Azerbaijani people would come to terms with this, but I had repeatedly said that we would never come to terms with this issue. I had said this when I was elected President in 2003, I had said this many times in subsequent years. Not only that, we were bringing this sacred Victory Day closer every day, every hour. We built a strong economy, exposed Armenia internationally as an occupying state. Many leading international organizations had to accept our position as a result of our efforts. We created a strong army, purchased the most advanced weapons and educated a young generation. That young generation gave their all in the Patriotic War and liberated our lands from the enemy. May Allah rest the souls of all our martyrs in peace. We owe this Victory to them, to the tens of thousands of Azerbaijani soldiers and officers like them.

The Azerbaijani state and the Azerbaijani people united like a fist. And we forced Armenia to sign the act of capitulation in a matter of 44 days. The 44-day Patriotic War is our glorious history. We were moving forward every day. Not a single person abandoned the battlefield. There was not a single deserter. In other words, this shows the high qualities of our people. This demonstrates that all our people and the Armed Forces were prepared to die for the Motherland. According to their own assessment, there were 12,000 deserters in the Armenian army. When the Patriotic War ended, most of Kalbajar, Lachin and Aghdam were still under occupation. However, as a result of the act of capitulation, we forced Armenia to return these districts to us, and it had to do so. In other words, Kalbajar was liberated without a single shot being fired. You, the people of Kalbajar, know the terrain and climate of this region perfectly well. I also know very that well, because I have been here many times. In previous periods too, I had passed through the Murov Pass, the Omar Pass.

A military way of liberation of Kalbajar at the end of 2020 – winter had already begun – would have resulted in huge losses. Of course, we would have liberated it because we had almost crushed the Armenian army by that time. But they had strong defensive fortifications. At that time, Aghdara district was not under our control. The only way was from the Murov direction, and I repeat, we could have suffered huge losses. Therefore, history showed again that the cessation of the war on November 10, 2020 was the most correct step. However, at that time, part of our lands were still not under our control. From that time until September 19, 2023, our main goal was to fully restore the sovereignty of our country. You remember that history perfectly well, both the elimination of the so-called Lachin corridor and the transformation of it into the Lachin-Khankendi road, the establishment of a checkpoint in the Lachin direction on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and, at the same time, the capture of important strategic heights from November 2020 to September 2023, the Farrukh, Girkhgiz and Saribaba operations – all this was our glorious history and part of our consistent policy. Of course, we could not say a lot at the time, there was no need for this. However, we were moving towards the goal of leaving not a single separatist on our lands. Separatism must be nipped in the bud and uprooted, and we did exactly that. As a result of the anti-terrorist operation that lasted only a few hours, the separatist junta signed an act of capitulation. It signed a document reflecting the alleged collapse of the fake republic.

For us, September 19-20, 2023, are just as glorious and historic days as November 8. Since then, the Azerbaijani people have been living in peace and, I am sure, will continue to live in peace. You know that the Armenia-Azerbaijan reconciliation process has almost been completed and the documents signed are fully consistent with our interests. We have achieved what we wanted, the contemptible Minsk Group is living its last days. In fact, it did not and could not do anything. However, it existed legally, and now its end is looming large.

We are also the authors of the peace agreement with Armenia, and our position has always served as the basis for drafting those clauses. The fact that this document has been initialed actually puts an end to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. At the same time, an overland connection with our historical homeland of Nakhchivan has also been secured. From November 2020 until the last few days, we have been persistently keeping this issue on the agenda and making efforts to achieve this goal in various ways. And finally, we have achieved it. Armenia has already taken on this obligation, and I do hope that we will be able to travel from the mainland Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan by train and car in the next few years. At the same time, this will not only connect the two parts of Azerbaijan with each other, it will also become an international transport corridor. Several transport corridors pass through the territory of Azerbaijan now, and this, of course, enhances the importance of our country. There will be another corridor going in this direction now. The construction of the railway to Zangilan is already well underway. It will probably be completed next year. We will now fully modernize the railway in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The construction of the railway is also planned on the territory of Armenia. In other words, Armenia has also taken on this obligation, and this is yet another historic success for us.

The Azerbaijani people have once again shown their greatness at the highest international level. The new realities we created as a result of both the Patriotic War and the anti-terrorist operation have been recognized by the world. This was also very important because after the Patriotic War and especially the September 2023 operation, Armenia's sponsors, various countries and circles launched a campaign against us – punishing Azerbaijan, imposing sanctions against Azerbaijan and other efforts were clearly visible. True, none of them were implemented. We have very strong partners, and our position has always been recognized as a fair position within international organizations. Because we fought a war on our own soil. We did not occupy the lands of any country like certain countries, we did not carry out ethnic cleansing, we did not destroy the cities and villages of any country. We fought on our own soil, defeated the enemy and restored our territorial integrity, also on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions. However, despite this, the countries that patronized Armenia were constantly acting against us, and the documents signed in Washington, the world's number one office, put an end to all those efforts.

In other words, the world, the international community has fully accepted our Victory and new realities, and this in itself is a historic event. Because it is no secret that the great powers that supported Armenia both during the occupation and during the war have always created and could create major problems for us. Our strength, the unity of our people with the government, our military Victory, the mood in society, the spirit of patriotism – all these factors have shown the entire world that everyone must reckon with us. Those who do not reckon with us will regret it in the end. The Armenia- Azerbaijan war, the Patriotic War and the post-war period have shown this, and today's realities are also evidence of this.

Azerbaijan is a country with dignity, a strong country. We would not advise anyone to even think about doing something evil against us. At any rate, there has been no other country in the world over the past 80 years that has won a victory as complete and absolute as Azerbaijan did. You see the processes taking place in the world now. Clashes, wars and war crimes are taking place in various parts of the world. But no one has won a complete victory. Wars continue to cover a larger geography and will probably continue to do so. These political developments show this. We are the only country. We are the only people who have won a complete Victory, an absolute Victory. We forced the enemy to sign an act of capitulation. At the same time, Azerbaijan is the guarantor of peace.

We exacted our revenge on the enemy on the battlefield. We once again showed the greatness of our people. We did not do to them what they did to us. However, what they did will never be erased from our memory, including the war crimes committed against the people of Kalbajar. The genocide, the Khojaly genocide, the hostility, enmity and brutality against our people from other regions will never be erased from our memory, and nor should they. I am saying this both as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the country that won the war and as a participant in the peace process with Armenia, with a defeated Armenia. We do not want war. We want peace. But that bloody history should never be erased from our memory. We should never be deceived by sweet words and we should always be vigilant. Of course, our Armed Forces are on guard of the interests and security of our state every moment, every day. We are watching, seeing and will detect all possible sources of danger. We are building up our military capacity. After the Second Karabakh War, we have increased the number of our special forces both in Caspian Sea and in all other armed forces by thousands - I don't want to specify the number, but it is a large number. New commando forces have been created.

The most modern unmanned aerial vehicles and new artillery systems have been brought to our country. Now contracts have been signed for new combat aircraft, while the existing aircraft have been fully modernized. We must be ready for war at any moment. Because the processes in the world are going in such a direction that it is impossible to predict what may happen tomorrow. We ourselves are the guarantor of our security – the government, the people and our Armed Forces. Therefore, if someone's sick mind decides to commit a provocation against Azerbaijan, I think they will regret it again. From now on, we will live as a victorious people and a victorious state.

Our job is to build. They have destroyed all our cities and villages. There was not a single safe building left in the city of Kalbajar. There was not a single building left in any village of Kalbajar. It was mere barbarity. It was an inhuman act, and it was done not by one person, not by 10 people, but en masse. They should deal with these issues and see what kind of society Armenia lives in. The society that made looting its main source of income during the years of occupation. This society is sick, and I am saying this openly. I do not want to insult anyone. What had we done to them? What evil acts had we committed to deserve such brutality? Entire cities and villages were destroyed, mosques were destroyed and desecrated, people were murdered, killed and burned. Even after the Second Karabakh War, they asked us for some time through mediators to collect their belongings. And we even gave them time. What did they do? They burned everything and cut down trees. How can a person do this? After all, it was not only the leaders of the separatists who did this. They did it en masse. In other words, we must know who we are facing and who our neighbor is. We must never forget our past and be on the lookout. I am sure that all these factors will enable us to always have the upper hand. I am saying this again, we declare it as a victorious people. We will not forget that evil and brutality. But we do not intend to wage war with anyone from now on. If we face a threat, then everyone will still see our iron fist. Our meeting around these beautiful buildings today is also greatly symbolic. They destroyed this place, but we built it. And I congratulate you on this occasion again. Live here comfortably! I wish you good health and the best of luck. Thank you.

Latest

Latest