Azerbaijani president says Armenia's future may become unpredictable (VIDEO)

Baku, Azerbaijan, July 22

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Without normalizing the relations with Azerbaijan and other neighbors, Armenia's future can be unpredictable, said Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev at the joint press conference with President of European Council Donald Tusk in Baku.

The president was answering the question regarding the latest statements of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan regarding Azerbaijan, that he made at a joint conference with Tusk earlier.

"Frankly speaking, the last thing I wanted to talk today is statements of Mr. Sargsyan, who used the opportunity at the conference with President of European Council to accuse Azerbaijan of violation of democracy and aggression," Ilham Aliyev said.

"This is absolutely ridiculous as Sargsyan is probably the last person who should talk about democracy," the president said. "Sargsyan was appointed as the ruler of Armenia by his predecessor in 2008, has falsified the elections and then used army to suppress peaceful protesters. He has no right to talk about democracy in any country."

"As for the accusations of putting Azerbaijan and Armenia on the same scale, if I may say so, probably such an accusation could come from Azerbaijan, it would be more natural because the international community should put a very clear distinction between the aggressor and its victim," he said. "The aggressor should be brought to justice."

Ilham Aliyev went on to say that the sooner Armenian leadership understands its own situation, the better for them.

"By keeping Azerbaijani lands under occupation, Armenian deprives itself from regional coooperation with Azerbaijan and other neighbors," Ilham Aliyev said.

The president went on to say that as a result of that is poverty in Armenia, which is observed during the Sargsyan's rule.

"More than 50 percent of Armenian people live beyond the poverty line. This is the result of their policy and the result of the aggression against Azerbaijan."

The president went on to say that currently Azerbaijan and Armenia are working on the negotiation time and format to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but the roots of the conflict, the reasons why the conflict has emerged, shouldn't be forgotten.

"It was Armenian separatists in Nagorno Karabakh, backed by Armenia, who launched the aggression against Azerbaijan," he said. "The first victims of that conflict were Azerbaijanis. This aggression resulted in ethnic cleansing and genocide in Khodjaly, and occupation of almost 20 percent of our territory. And there can be no justification of this occupation."

"It is enough to look at the map to see that the big portion of Azerbaijan is now under Armenian occupation," he said. "They expelled all Azerbaijanis, violated their human rights, destroyed all our historic and religious monuments. Now they accuse Azerbaijan of blockades, of aggression and of xenophobia. Unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan is a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional country. Azerbaijan is home to representatives of many religions, who are country's citizens."

President Aliyev added that today on the world scale Azerbaijan is a good example of peaceful co-existence of representatives of different ethnic groups and religions.