BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 6. The beginning of 2026 allows us to view our victory in Karabakh not in terms of emotions or the current political situation, but in the context of historical outcomes. This is not simply a matter of military success or the restoration of territorial integrity, but a rare case of absolute and complete victory, brought to a political, diplomatic, and internationally recognized conclusion.
President Ilham Aliyev addressed this directly in an interview with Azerbaijani television channels on January 5. Reflecting on the events of 2025, he highlighted that, from a political perspective, the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan was conclusively brought to an end last year.
“We have been living in peace for several months now. We are learning what it is like to live in peace since after gaining independence, and even before that, the people and the state of Azerbaijan lived in a state of war,” the head of state said.
What is crucial here is not merely the fact of a ceasefire, but the completeness of the outcome. The Second Karabakh War, the subsequent anti-terrorist operation, and the political decisions of 2025 form a single, logically completed chain. The victory achieved on the battlefield was consolidated in the political sphere, as the head of state underlined, “in the number one office in the world,” which became one of the most significant events in the entire history of independent Azerbaijan.
The thoroughness of the outcome sets the Karabakh case apart from most conflicts of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Since World War II, the international system has repeatedly encountered situations in which military superiority and actual territorial control failed to secure international recognition of a conflict’s results. The Korean War, for instance, concluded not with a peace treaty but with an armistice, freezing the peninsula’s division and creating one of the world’s most volatile lines of tension. In Cyprus, the conflict produced a de facto reality that has remained unrecognized under international law for decades, fostering chronic instability in the Eastern Mediterranean. Likewise, the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation, despite multiple military and political phases, has never reached a final settlement, becoming a persistent source of regional crises. Numerous similar examples exist across modern history, from the Balkans to Africa.
A defining feature of these conflicts has been their incompleteness: either the military victory was not recognized, the political solution failed to reflect the real balance of power, or external actors deliberately maintained “managed uncertainty” instead of securing a final resolution. The result was frozen conflicts, competing claims of legitimacy, constant risks of escalation, and, ultimately, prolonged suffering for entire populations.
In contrast, the victory in Karabakh stands out as a rare exception. Azerbaijan not only reestablished control over its territories but also achieved full recognition of the new reality by the international community, including leading states and major international institutions. Today, Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over the liberated territories is unambiguously acknowledged by key global powers, the United States, the European Union and its major members, Russia, China, as well as influential regional actors. This broad international consensus is critically important, as it decisively distinguishes Azerbaijan’s Karabakh victory from most post-war conflicts, where battlefield gains often remained contested or ignored.
As President Ilham Aliyev recalled in the same interview, during the period of activity of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, Azerbaijan was persistently urged to “accept the realities on the ground,” while resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and norms of international law were ignored.
“And all my arguments about Security Council resolutions, international law, and violations of international law were met again with a kind of wall of silence. So, realities on the ground. I said, okay, we will change the realities on the ground. So we did it, and now the whole world recognizes it,” the head of state noted.
A particularly striking aspect of this story is the reassessment of the role of international law. In the interview, President Ilham Aliyev described the existing system as outdated and ill-equipped to address modern challenges. For decades, international resolutions, principles, and declarations offered little support to Azerbaijan, while appeals to territorial integrity and United Nations Security Council decisions, in his words, repeatedly struck a “wall of silence.” Meanwhile, the principle of “self-determination” was often misused to justify aggressive separatism, in direct contradiction to fundamental norms of international law.
It was in this context that the formula of “realities on the ground” acquired a fundamentally different meaning for Azerbaijan. What had previously been imposed on Baku as an argument against its legitimate demands was transformed into an instrument for restoring justice.
Through decisive action, President Ilham Aliyev changed the reality on the ground and, in doing so, compelled the world to recognize it.
This serves as a powerful example of how a state, even without superpower status but armed with political will, military capability, and economic resources, can actively shape the international environment rather than remain a passive observer.
Equally significant are the domestic effects of this achieved peace. According to the head of state, even the first months of life without war have already yielded tangible results: stronger confidence in stability and security, a positive shift in public sentiment, and expanding economic opportunities. This highlights a crucial distinction between a complete victory and a “semi-victory”: here, peace is not merely declarative; it is practical, working to strengthen the state and improve the lives of society.
Ultimately, the victory in Karabakh is an example of how peace is only possible for the strong, and that it is precisely strength, exercised responsibly and translated into political results, that can put an end to protracted conflicts. In a world where so many wars have remained unfinished since World War II, Azerbaijan's experience stands out as a rare but telling precedent. This is precisely the historical significance of the victory achieved by President Ilham Aliyev—not only for Azerbaijan, but for the entire system of modern international relations.
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