BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 19
Trend:
The liberation of Shusha occupies a special place among our goals, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview to Turkish A Haber TV channel, Trend reports.
“We are headed for all the territories. Every inch of the occupied lands, every city is dear to us, it is native for us. For me, all villages and cities are equally valuable. But you know very well that Shusha occupies a special place in the hearts of the Azerbaijani people. This is our historic city, a hotbed of ancient culture. Shusha gave the Azerbaijani people many very talented and outstanding personalities. Of course, without Shusha our mission will be half done. Naturally, this issue has always been on the agenda in the course of discussions.You know, there were many questions at the negotiating table in the previous period. Some suggestions were that Azerbaijan should get back five districts and be content with that, while the rest should stay with the Armenians. In other words, we were told that we want everything at once, but this can’t happen and that there must be a compromise and so on. But I never agreed to that. It would be completely wrong to get five districts and leave the rest for later, indefinitely. Therefore, at different stages, mediators and some international organizations wondered why Ilham Aliyev did not agree to this. We are telling him that five districts are being returned now, although Armenia, as it turns out now, did not want to return these five districts either. But there have been such proposals. However, my position has always been that without Shusha our mission would be half done. Therefore, of course, the liberation of Shusha occupies a special place among our goals. We must aspire to this. We must achieve this. When will that happen? The near future will show,” the head of state said.