President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has admitted his country’s gross violation of the principle of "non-use of force." He made this confession at the 10th Global Baku Forum themed “The World of Today: Challenges and Hopes.”
According to him, "Azerbaijan made a lot of effort to resolve the conflict with Armenia in a peaceful way."
"Conflicts can be resolved in two ways: peaceful and non-peaceful. We [i.e., Azerbaijan] made a lot of effort to resolve the conflict with Armenia peacefully, despite the fact that a humanitarian crisis arose in Azerbaijan as a result of the Armenian occupation, more than 1 million Azerbaijanis were left homeless, became refugees and forced settlers," Aliyev said, presenting exaggerated numbers.
The leader of Azerbaijan noted that "the OSCE Minsk Group wanted the Karabakh conflict to be frozen forever. In 1992, immediately after the outbreak of the conflict, the OSCE created the Minsk Group. But, unfortunately, during 28 years, the Minsk Group did not achieve any results. And at the end of the negotiation process, it seemed to us that they just wanted to freeze the situation. They wanted this conflict to be frozen forever. But we did not agree. We did what we deemed necessary, using our right to self-defense, the UN Charter, specifically the article. We liberated our territories by force; it was our legal right."
"The people of Azerbaijan have a moral right to take revenge, and I can understand that. But the essence of my words is that we took revenge on the battlefield. Unlike the Armenians, we have not committed any war crimes. We did not commit genocide, unlike the Armenians. And we took revenge on the battlefield. And now, the time for peace has come," Aliyev said.
The Azerbaijani leader said that immediately after the war, in November 2020, Azerbaijan took the initiative to start peace negotiations and submitted five principles that could be the basis for signing a peace treaty with Armenia.
“We hope that the international players who are trying to assist in this matter will convince Armenia not to miss this opportunity,” Aliyev added.
At the same time, he claimed that Azerbaijan wants peace.
“We do not want another war. And we believe that it is possible to achieve peace,” he said.
There are no obstacles to achieving peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Azerbaijani president claimed.
“What was agreed between Azerbaijan and Armenia in October of last year, in particular, regarding respecting each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, actually shows that there is no obstacle to achieving peace,” he said.
Also, Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic country.
"Therefore, I am sure that the life of the Armenians living in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan will be much better than during the occupation. Every conflict has its history, its dynamics, and its end. But the important thing is that disputes between countries are resolved on the basis of international law, territorial integrity, and sovereignty cannot be changed by force."