Baku, Azerbaijan, April 2
By Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:
The April battles proved once again that Azerbaijan will not yield a single inch of its historical lands, Azerbaijani MP Khanlar Fatiyev told Trend.
The MP said that Azerbaijan has managed to achieve great success in the military sphere over the past 15 years, as in all other areas. Today, Azerbaijan has an army equipped with modern weapons and equipment, and the process of building an army is not limited to material and technical support. The level of combat training and the moral and psychological state of the personnel – the officers and soldiers of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces – are at a high level.
"During the April 2016 battles, the Azerbaijani army proved to the world that it is capable of liberating the occupied lands in a short amount of time by the order of the Commander-in-chief. The leadership of the invading state is also well aware of it. The economic strength and potential of Azerbaijan, the high prestige of the head of state among the world leaders forced the Armenian leadership to sit down again at the negotiating table for substantive negotiations," Fatiyev said.
Fatiyev also touched upon the meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia March 29 and noted that President Ilham Aliyev during the meeting in Vienna once again demonstrated the unshakable will of Azerbaijan.
“The head of state said that the format of the negotiations will remain unchanged, and negotiations can only be held between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Fatiyev added. “I believe that this meeting interrupted the pause observed for a long time during the negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.’
He also noted that the decisive position and successful policy by President Ilham Aliyev will result in Azerbaijan’s victory.
“The UN Security Council, having adopted resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 854 (1993) and 884 (1993) in connection with the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, condemned the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories, confirmed the territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of Azerbaijan’s borders and demanded the immediate, full and unconditional withdrawal of the invading forces from our territories,” Fatiyev said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.