BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 29. Armenia had a chance to normalize relations with Azerbaijan after the second Karabakh war, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said during the 2nd Azerbaijan National Urban Development Forum in Zangilan, Trend reports.
"If we look at the rhetoric of Armenian governmental officials, including high-ranking official, who now try to accuse us of what we have never done – their rhetoric was very clear. In 2019, the current leader of Armenia announced in Khankendi that Karabakh is Armenia, finish, and that was the end of the negotiation process. So that was a red line, which shouldn't have been crossed. No one before expressed that wording. That was actually the end of ceasefire, because there was no use in having any negotiations when the Armenian leader openly declares that the internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan belongs to Armenia. What kinds of negotiations can be held?
Nevertheless, we thought that probably that was a kind of political mistake. We still had hopes. Then, there was even more. The Defense Minister of Armenia announced that Armenia is ready for a new war with us for new territories. So, they were intimidating us with new occupation. 20% of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan probably was not enough for them. They wanted more. Their plans was to come to Baku, and swim in the Caspian Sea. Their plans was to come to Baku with tanks. But Armenian tanks really are in Baku, but they are in the park of military trophies. So a lot of miscalculations, a lot of underestimations of Azerbaijan, its will, its potential, its power led to a serious disaster for the region.
Still, there was a chance to normalize relations with Armenia after the Second Karabakh war, but they had to put down all their territorial claims and stop articulating contradictory statements. On one hand, the Armenian leader recognized the Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, and on the other hand, on the second of September, he sent a letter of congratulations to the leader of the fictitious regime with respect to its independence. So how can that match? That meant again the territorial claim against us after three years of a miserable defeat of the Armenian army, when, according to their information, they had more than 12,000 deserters, and they ran away from our territories like sprinters," President Ilham Aliyev said.