BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 12. Operation Revenge lasted several hours and was a punitive measure, President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with an Azerbaijani TV channel, in Basgal village, Trend reports.
"The Armenian side resorted to yet another armed provocation. As a result of this military provocation, one of our soldiers became a martyr. May Allah rest his soul in peace. May Allah rest the souls of all our martyrs in peace. However, everyone saw and should see that the blood of our martyr did not remain unavenged. We immediately carried out Operation Revenge, avenged the death of our martyr and severely punished the enemy. Operation Revenge lasted several hours and was a punitive measure. The blood of the Azerbaijani martyr cost the enemy dearly, and they should not forget that. If a similar provocation is perpetrated again, the response will be the same. No-one can stop us, no-one can be in our way. We can conduct any operation on our lands at any time. Simply, the fact that Operation Revenge was very effective but short shows that our strength is in place. At the same time, it showed that we do not want a new war. Because the second Karabakh war showed our strength and we achieved what we wanted through military and then by military-political means. We will achieve our other dreams too. We will achieve them when the time is right. It is a reality that there are both tactical and strategic steps on our agenda. I am sure that Armenia is also aware that we know what to do and when to do it, and we always do what we say. We have repeatedly warned Armenia not to play with fire, to behave, to accept the new reality and not resort to military provocations.
Unfortunately, we have had to teach them another lesson. I do hope that this lesson will be remembered this time.
Operation Revenge was not only aimed at avenging the blood of our martyr. As supreme Commander-in-Chief, I also set other goals and objectives, and all of them were fulfilled. The result is obvious, so I wouldn’t want to talk too much about it. I simply want to say that we did what we wanted, and the other side has been forced to accept this again.
In principle, Armenia must come to terms with this situation, with the new reality in the future, because there is no other option. Operation Revenge showed Armenia again that no-one and nothing can stop us – not someone's statement, not someone's announcement, not some phone call. Nothing and nobody! The people of Azerbaijan know this perfectly well. The second Karabakh war showed this. I am sure that the other party also knows this. They simply forget this sometimes. This is why these tragic events happen," said the head of state.