BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 13
Trend:
We have already lifted the heavy burden of the Karabakh problem off our chest, and I think we will be one of the countries initiating the new world order, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with local TV channels on January 12, 2022, Trend reports.
“Now I see through many contacts and meetings that the traditional rules of behavior are already about to be exhausted. Although they are still pronounced verbally, the statements made do not correspond to real life. If you remember, in recent years, even before the pandemic, I have repeatedly said in my speeches that the power factor is coming to the fore now and we must be prepared for that. I said that this is not our choice. We have always defended the rule of international law and hoped that it would help us resolve our problem. But we see that it doesn’t work, it doesn’t. When conflicts are not resolved for a long time, those involved in these conflicts and the people we refer to as the international community get tired of these conflicts. This tiredness is now felt in other conflicts too. You are probably watching that too. Therefore, it has become clear to me in recent years that we will not be able to regain our lands by traditional means, i.e. through the Minsk Group or through mediation. So this is not something I arrived at today. I already saw this and the fact that Armenia had become even more impudent and got away with everything it had done reinforced this idea in me. Therefore, I always said that we must rely on our own strength, get stronger, increase our strength and create a stronger army. We must strengthen the economy so that we do not depend on anyone. Because imagine where we would be if we were economically dependent on anyone now. No-one would allow us the opportunity to liberate our lands by force. Therefore, we have consistently worked in all these areas, of course, subject to international rules of conduct. Of course, we needed time to gain confidence. Because we only had to succeed in liberating our lands. In general, if we go beyond the context of Azerbaijan, we can see that the big countries are already openly declaring that international law does not matter to them. Whilst in the past they wanted to cover it up with some statements, it is no longer the case now. I describe this as political cynicism and it has already reached an extreme level. Under such circumstances, if the countries that developed these rules and approved them after World War II behave in this way, what should other countries do? Then other countries, as they say, should take action on their own. We have been doing this for a long time. Some countries believed in international law, were deceived by it and expected that someone would resolve their problems for them in the future. I think they regret it now,” the head of state said.
“There was such a period for us as well, and I am not hiding that. After being elected president, I also had hopes. At the initial stage, I also believed that this issue, the Karabakh issue, could be resolved peacefully. It seemed to us that the options we proposed were logical, fair and fully in line with international law. I even wondered why the other side or the mediators did not understand. I was 41 years old when I was elected president, I wasn’t very experienced and believed in international law at the time. I believed that justice would come down from heaven and resolve the problem for us. Then I realized that we must restore justice ourselves. In the first stage of the talks, when I was present, I had such hopes. Then I realized that it didn't matter anymore. Especially when the current Armenian government made their position clear again, when it actually disrupted the talks by its statements and inappropriate steps, it became clear that we couldn’t waste any more time. You know, I have to say one thing: everything has to be done at the right time. The second Karabakh war also showed that. A year earlier it would probably have been too early, a year later it would have been too late, so everything had to be done at the right time. It is, of course, a matter of hard work to select this time, to choose it correctly, not to go on an adventure, not to risk the country and to achieve success as much as possible. I can say this quite openly,” Azerbaijani president said.
“Nevertheless, as a responsible member of the international community and a country chairing the Non-Aligned Movement, Azerbaijan will, of course, continue to defend the rule of international law. We will take an active part in the activities of world institutions – the United Nations and other institutions established after the second World war, and we will be able to avail ourselves of these opportunities more easily today. Because we have already lifted the heavy burden of the Karabakh problem off our chest, and I think we will be one of the countries initiating the new world order. Because this has already happened de facto, and we are fully prepared for this de facto situation with all the internal resources. Both the moral side and the mobilization of our people, the unity of the people and the government, our economic independence, our energy independence, our political agenda and growing opportunities, especially after the Karabakh Victory – we are fully prepared and ready for any option. If the world continues to develop in the traditional way – although I do not believe in that – we are ready. If the world and international architecture completely collapses, we are ready for that too. So we are like a team. We must be ready to perform any task anywhere and at any moment based on our own strength, and always hold our flag high,” the head of state said.