BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 29. We don’t need another war and we must protect ourselves from any risks of any revenge from Armenia, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said addressing the international conference under the motto “South Caucasus: Development and Cooperation”, Trend reports.
"I can tell you that the wounds of the Azerbaijani people were not healed during all these 30 years, but after liberation and after people started to visit the territories, you know there are regular bus trips to Shusha and to Aghdam and when they saw with their own eyes, when I first went there and saw it with my own eyes, it was a shock. We could not even imagine the level of hatred to people who didn’t do you any harmful thing. Because we lived side by side in Shusha, in Khankandi and in other places and never did anything that could be considered as hostile. So, such a hatred, erasing cities, digging out the dead bodies, it is unbelievable. So, it is imaginable, if I felt that, what could people who lost their beloved ones feel. And I understand their pain, I share their pain and I myself will never forget atrocities and barbarism. I will not be able to forget and I don’t want to forget, because we need to remember. We need to remember because it is part of our history, tragic history. At the same time, we must remember and always be ready to defend ourselves. But, at the same time, our peace agenda cannot be implemented without public support. We also understand that after the second Karabakh war, Armenian society have wounds. It is understandable. And if our wounds didn’t heal for 30 years, we understand that their wounds will also be bleeding. This is a reality. But, what to do? We need to take responsibility and the leaders are leading their countries also because of that. To take responsibility and try to persuade your people that for our interests, for strategic future we need peace. We know history of wars. We know the history of the Second World War. After, I think, 10-20 years, those who were killing each other started to do business. There are many examples of that. Whether we will be ready as a society or not, I don’t know. But, I think you also know that there is a very special atmosphere in Azerbaijani society after the victory. There is unity. There is a permanent connection between what we do and how people react. We consult with people our plans. For instance, with reconstruction of the cities, when the master plans of Aghdam and Fuzulu were to be approved, that was approved with the participation of the famous representatives of this region, because it is them who will live there. Therefore, there is a pretty high level of trust in society about we are doing. That was always the case, but after the victory, of course, it is much bigger. I think that Azerbaijani society will understand me when I talk about peace. It is not easy, I understand, but we don’t need another war and we must protect ourselves from any risks of any revenge from Armenia. Therefore, on one side we should not forget, on the other side, we should strengthen and modernize our army. At the same time, in parallel, we should prepare the societies. My proposals to organize these people-to-people contacts, NGOs, journalists and intellectuals are aimed at that. That must be a basis for peace. It will take long, but there is no alternative. The alternative is worse," the head of state said.