BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 17. Now, when Armenia talks about peace, I think it is a kind of manipulation, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said, receiving a delegation led by Special Envoy of the European Union for the Eastern Partnership Dirk Schuebel on November 17, Trend reports.
"Taking into account that you mentioned your visit to Armenia and that you got a message from Armenian leadership about peace, you know, we have heard these messages during all the years of occupation that they want peace. And they were not sincere. We also wanted peace but we also wanted our lands back. They wanted peace not giving the lands back. This is a difference. And we had to resolve the conflict by force and then by political means. Now, when they talk about peace, I think it is a kind of manipulation, because if they really wanted peace they would have responded to our proposal. It was us who made a proposal to start negotiations on peace agreement right after the war ended. And that was one of the probably unique cases in the world history. The country which had been under occupation for so many years, which restored justice by force, and after the enemy was defeated and thrown out from our territories we offered peace. Despite all the devastations, destructions, Armenians created on our territory, and sufferings of Azerbaijanis, we offered peace. We offered a kind of framework that famous five principles, was us who advocated for establishing a commissions on delimitation, it was us who was trying to find a ground for normalization of relations. Armenia was very reluctant in the first phases of the process. Now, they talk about peace. But what do they mean by peace? We do not actually understand. Because our position is very clear. It has been articulated many times publicly and also in my contacts with the leaders of European Commission, United States, Russia, the countries which have been involved in the process of normalization that we need to have two tracks- Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization process and also issues related to Armenian minority in Azerbaijan, in Karabakh with respect to their rights and security. Just yesterday, I had a phone call from Secretary of State Blinken and once again we talked about that. We have full understanding that there must be two tracks. And they should not be mixed up. But statements from Armenia are very controversial. They say they recognize our territorial integrity and sovereignty. Not only say but they signed under that in Prague and in Sochi," said the head of state.