BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 9
Trend:
During these forty days of the war, on several occasions, I said that I wish to see the day when three South Caucasian countries would be working together. For instance, we do with Georgia, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with the BBC News, Trend reports.
“Look at how many projects we implemented with them. How close our relations are. They are based on historical legacy and they are based on pragmatism on the balance of our interests. So why Armenia became isolated? Because of the occupation. And if you look at the map, for instance, our energy and transportation projects, you will see that they bypass Armenia. The shortest way for us to deliver our resources to the international markets was through Armenia and we offered them that in the 1990s. We said, ‘look, liberate the territories let’s build the pipeline through Armenian territory, and then entering Nakhchivan and then Turkey, we will then combine the interests of all countries’. We will make all countries of the region in a certain way interdependent. And that will be a guarantee for peace. They said ‘no’. I offered many times through the Minsk Group co-chairs, they can approve it, financial assistance, social programs in Nagorno-Karabakh financing from our budget, if they liberate territories. They said no. I offered autonomy, the highest possible autonomy in the world, I offered to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenians said no. They said no to everything. So, what happens now is their fault. By the way, the first president who was overthrown by the Karabakh clan published an article saying that what Azerbaijanis are offering now to us they will not offer,” the head of state said.