BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30
Trend:
The process of negotiations lasted for about 30 years, but to no avail. The progress of events, the second Karabakh war and the actions of international forces show that this issue could never be resolved through negotiations, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said addressing the official opening ceremony of the Vagif Poetry Days in Shusha, Trend reports.
"Unfortunately, after the occupation of Shusha, all historical monuments and cultural sites, including the mausoleum of Vagif, were destroyed by the vandals," the president said. "The occupation of Shusha was a great tragedy of our people. Because Shusha is the cradle of Azerbaijani culture. Shusha has a great symbolic meaning in the history of Azerbaijan. Shusha is the crown of Karabakh."
"After the occupation of Shusha, other districts and cities were occupied as well," President Aliyev said. "Of course, the strategic importance of Shusha was lost for us, and the enemy took advantage of this and occupied Lachin a few days later – in May 1992."
"A year later, in April 1993, they occupied Kalbajar, thus establishing a geographical link between the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region and Armenia," the president said. "Our defeat was inevitable, given that there was a period of chaos in Azerbaijan at that time. There was no regular army and there was a civil confrontation."
"The loss of Shusha led to the loss of other districts," President Aliyev said. "However, we, the people of Azerbaijan, were never going to come to terms with this occupation. During the occupation, I repeatedly said that we would never come to terms with this situation, that we would liberate all the occupied lands, including Shusha, from the occupiers at any cost."
"As you know, the process of negotiations lasted for about 30 years, but to no avail," the president said. "The progress of events, the second Karabakh war and the actions of international forces show that this issue could never be resolved through negotiations. Because they wanted us, the Azerbaijanis, to come to terms with this situation."
"They tried to portray this situation, i.e. the frozen conflict, as a no-alternative option," President Aliyev said. "We had a completely different opinion, and I never hid that. I said that if the issue was not resolved peacefully, we would restore our territorial integrity through war. All norms and principles of international law recognize this right. The UN Charter, UN Security Council resolutions and historical justice gave us this right. And we achieved this."