By Azernews

By Aisha Jabbarova

President Ilham Aliyev has said that Armenia has been launching artillery attacks on Azerbaijan despite the humanitarian truce agreed between the two countries with Russia’s mediation recently.

Aliyev made the remarks in an interview with Russian RIA Novosti agency on October 15.

“Unfortunately, artillery shelling from Armenia has continued after the agreement on the parameters of a ceasefire was reached, including the barbaric bombing of the city of Ganja, as a result of which 10 civilians were killed and about 40 were wounded,” Aliyev said.

The attack in Ganja came hours after the truce entered force.

Aliyev stressed that the ongoing clashes between the two countries started after Azerbaijan was subjected to yet another attack of the Armenian armed forces on 27 September, reminding that Armenia had also staged military provocation in July and August earlier.  

The president noted that the principles of Moscow negotiations had been developed for over 10 years.

“In the process of my work with the previous leadership of Armenia, we actively moved forward in the process of coordinating positions. It was very difficult. Negotiations are a difficult process in themselves, and even more so on such an important issue. Nevertheless, both sides showed a desire to follow the path of a political settlement. Unfortunately, after the current government of Armenia came to power, everything that had been accumulated before was simply thrown into the wastebasket by the Armenian side.”

Aliyev said that Pasinyan sought to change the format of negotiations, to involve the authorities of the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh republic” in the negotiations and had derailed negotiations.

“Today, Armenian occupying forces sit on internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan. Nothing can justify this: neither from the point of view of international law nor from the point of view of human morality. It is impossible to pursue a policy of preventing Azerbaijanis from entering their ancestral lands for 30 years. These are the territories the Armenian population had never lived before. Another question is that everything there is destroyed, and it will take a lot of time and effort to return there. But this position cannot be justified in any way. Therefore, we and our servicemen are fighting and dying on Azerbaijani soil, while Armenian soldiers are dying on the land their government wants to keep under occupation.”

Commenting on the results of the military action, Aliyev said that they have been very successful for the Azerbaijani army.

“We have managed to break through the deeply echeloned defences of the opposing side. In some areas, there were even four lines of defence. The mountainous terrain, of course, makes the defence much easier than the counteroffensive. To date, dozens of settlements have been liberated from the occupation, including the city of Jabrayil and most of the villages of Jabrayil district, the vast majority of villages in Fizuli district, and the settlement of Sugovushan, which is of strategic importance. We have driven the occupiers out of strategic heights on the Murovdag mountain range and continue our successful operation to restore the territorial integrity of our country.”

Aliyev also addressed fake media reports about alleged participation of mercenaries in the war on Azerbaijan’s side. Aliyev said that there is no need for any foreign military participation in Azerbaijan, adding that no-one has provided him with any evidence of the presence of foreign armed formations on the territory of Azerbaijan in the current clashes.

“Our army consists of more than 100,000 fighters and, if necessary, with mobilization, this figure can be increased several times. Today, the armed formations available to us are fully capable of completing any task. Footage of the destruction of Armenian military equipment is available on the Internet. Of course, no mercenary possesses such qualifications and such technical capabilities. We have destroyed more than a billion dollars worth of the opposing side’s military equipment by means of unmanned attack aircraft alone, and this does not include other resources at our disposal. The potential of the Azerbaijani army is well known – what we have is no secret. Therefore, we have no need for additional military forces. Azerbaijan has always been a consistent fighter against international terrorism. We will never allow any terrorist organizations to build nests on our territory, even more so to pose a threat to our people and our neighbours. We will never allow this.”

Furthermore, the president said that Azerbaijan’s position has always been very constructive and consistent.

“It [Azerbaijan’s position] also relies on the norms of international law in terms of the implementation of four UN Security Council resolutions, which demand complete, immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from our territories. Our position has always been based on a pragmatic approach, and I think that the developments that exist at the negotiating table clearly show,” Aliyev said.