Azernews.Az

By Vafa Ismayilova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that the Zangazur corridor will unite the Turkic world through transport, communication and infrastructure projects passing along the region, Azertag has reported.

He made the remarks at an informal summit of the leaders of the countries participating in the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States held in the format of a videoconference on March 31.

"The [Karabakh] war is over and the conflict has been consigned to history. New opportunities have emerged. I think the most important opportunity among these is transport. We are already working very hard on the Zangazur corridor... Zangazur, the land of ancient Azerbaijan, will now play the role of uniting the Turkic world because the transport, communication and infrastructure projects passing through Zangazur will unite the whole Turkic world and create additional opportunities for other countries, including Armenia," he said.

The president stressed that Azerbaijan's partner countries will take advantage of new opportunities.

"Armenia currently has no railway links with its ally Russia. This railway link can be established from the territory of Azerbaijan. Armenia has no railway connection with its neighbour Iran. This railway can be provided through Nakhchivan. Azerbaijan will be connected with Turkey through the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Central Asia will be connected with Europe. So a new transport corridor is being created. Azerbaijan has already started this work. I am confident that our partner countries will also take advantage of these opportunities," Aliyev added.

During his speech, the president thanked his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the great political and moral support displayed from the first day of the six-week Karabakh war in 2020.

"My dear brother said Azerbaijan was not alone and that Turkey was with Azerbaijan. Of course, it was a very serious message, a serious signal. This allowed us the opportunity to conduct a successful counter-offensive and prevented outside forces from interfering. I have always said that without foreign intervention, Azerbaijan could resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in a short time, and so it happened... President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was the first to congratulate me and the people of Azerbaijan on the liberation of Shusha," he added.

Aliyev stressed that the Turkic Council issued a statement in support of Azerbaijan on 28 September, a day after the war.

"It made similar statements several times during the war. We thank the Turkic Council for that. Other international organizations such as the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation have provided their political support," the head of state stressed.

He noted that international organizations - the OSCE, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and other organizations have defended Azerbaijan's rightful position.

"However, this support was not so important in real life because the issue was not being resolved. The UN Security Council, the world's highest international body, has adopted four resolutions. These resolutions demanded an immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories. These resolutions were adopted in 1993 and remained on paper. Resolutions of other international organizations supported Azerbaijan's position, and this had tremendous political and legal significance. However, on a real and practical level, they did not reserve to solve the problem," he underlined.

Aliyev said that the problem could have been resolved peacefully if serious pressure had been put on Armenia.

"The countries co-chairing the [OSCE] Minsk Group are the world's leading countries, nuclear states and permanent members of the UN Security Council. Of course, the issue could have been resolved peacefully long ago if serious pressure had been put on Armenia because of the occupation and if sanctions had been imposed in response to Azerbaijan's demands," the president added.

The head of state said that based on the November 10 peace deal signed by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders, the conflict had been resolved.

"In the early hours of 10 November, the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia and the prime minister of Armenia signed a statement. Based on this statement, our other [Aghdam, Lachin and Kalbajar] districts were returned to Azerbaijan through political means. So the issue was resolved by both military and political means. It is safe to say that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been resolved. There is currently no territorial unit named Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan has resolved this issue, achieved a historic victory and started restoration work in the destroyed areas," he said.

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