Azerbaijan to Raise İssue of Liberation of Kelbajar, Lachin and Agdam in Geneva - Ilham Aliyev

At the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Geneva on October 29, the issue of returning Lachin and Kelbajar and part of the Agdam region to Azerbaijan will be raised. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said this in an interview with Interfax.

The issue of returning to Azerbaijan 5 regions around Nagorno-Karabakh (Jabrayil, Fizuli, Zanghilan, Gubadly and Agdam regions) is no longer relevant. "We have practically completed the first stage, and therefore if now the Armenian side expresses its adherence to the basic principles, we will immediately talk about transferring the Lachin and Kelbajar regions and parts of the Agdam region, which are now under occupation, under Azerbaijani control," Aliyev said.

The defeat inflicted on Armenia should sober them up, so they will no longer be able to deceive anyone, imitating negotiations, he noted. “We need to get from the Armenian side, in the person of the top leadership, commitments to withdraw troops from the occupied territories. We haven’t heard this yet. As soon as this commitment is taken by the Armenian leadership, and as soon as it is confirmed and approved by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, we are ready to stop military actions immediately," the Azerbaijani President said.

Answering the question about the negotiation formula acceptable for Baku, Aliyev said that the "2 + 2" formula assumes the participation of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and Russia in the settlement of the conflict. "It would be acceptable for us, because Turkey and Russia are our neighbors, countries with which we have close relations."

According to him, Turkey and Russia cooperate well in other regions and resolve conflicts together. Combining efforts of Turkey and Russia could speed up the political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Aliyev added.

29 October 2020 / 10:26