Ilham Aliyev: Azerbaijan will continue to support Ukraine's territorial integrity
Baku's position on the Russia-Ukraine war remains unchanged: Azerbaijan supports and will continue to support Ukraine's territorial integrity.
As 1news.az reports, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated this in response to a question from Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon at the IV Shusha Global Media Forum.
"We have always supported, support, and will support Ukraine's territorial integrity, its sovereignty, and the inviolability of its borders. The borders of no state can be changed by force or without the consent of the people of that country. Our position here is quite consistent and firm," the head of the Azerbaijani state said.
Recalling that at last year's similar media forum he called on Ukrainians never to agree to occupation, Ilham Aliyev noted that this is exactly what Ukraine is doing: "It does not agree to occupation. Although there were difficult moments during this year, we saw, know, and heard about pressure from certain circles for an option to cease hostilities that would essentially consolidate the occupation. But neither the people of Ukraine nor its leadership agreed to this."
Regarding advice to the Russian side, the Azerbaijani leader noted that "if they ask me, of course I will advise."
"I think the understanding should have come long ago that this war must be stopped, and stopped immediately. This is Azerbaijan's position, this is my position purely as a human being, a person who led and leads a country that was occupied and which freed itself from occupation," the president emphasized.
He noted that Azerbaijan itself possesses a rare historical experience as a country whose territories were subjected to occupation, a country that was forced to agree to give up Karabakh.
"After all, I have said this more than once - it was the Minsk Group headed by the United States, France, and Russia - it wanted to take Karabakh away from us, that is, not only those territories within the administrative borders of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, but also the entire territory of the Lachin district and the Kalbajar district, and for us to agree to that. And in return, we were promised that five districts located to the east of where we are would be returned to us. But neither I nor anyone in Azerbaijan would ever have agreed to this. But this was the consolidated position of three leading countries, at least based on the fact that they are permanent members of the UN Security Council, and it was quite difficult to oppose this position. And when the Second Karabakh War began, they all demanded that we stop immediately: they scared us, threatened us, called, some very persistently, some less so. But everyone wanted us to stop and for everything to remain as it was. And at some stage some suggested to us: well, you have liberated Fuzuli - stop. We had to use various diplomatic mechanisms. I sent our foreign minister to numerous meetings in Moscow, Washington, and Europe," Ilham Aliyev said.
According to him, the mediators' goal was to prevent Azerbaijan from restoring its territories: "But this goal was not achieved, because it is impossible to break the will of the people. It is impossible to defeat a people striving for independence, for the preservation of its identity, it is impossible to enslave, it is impossible to impose. This understanding must come to those who still today advocate for the continuation of military actions."
The head of state noted that he is aware of the position of his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, expressed by him earlier publicly as well as during his visit to Azerbaijan in April: "We spoke with him in detail on this topic: an immediate cessation of hostilities along the line of contact. I do not know to what extent this proposal is still relevant, it is difficult for me to say. But in any case, he did not publicly withdraw it. Therefore, I think that in any case, as far as Azerbaijan's position is concerned, it remains unchanged."
"Well, as for the Ukrainian people, we are always ready to help in whatever way we can. I do not want to talk much about this topic. We do this not in order to talk about it, it simply also comes from the heart somehow. And the state, and, by the way, not only, but also ordinary people and commercial companies - that is, it is a unified impulse - to help those who are in trouble, who have suffered, whose territorial integrity has been violated, and to help in whatever way we can," Ilham Aliyev concluded.
