President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has chaired a meeting dedicated to the results of six months of this year.

The head of state made an opening speech at the meeting.

Opening speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Today we will discuss the results of the first six months of the year and also talk about the work to be done in the future. The first six months of the year show again that our country is developing successfully and the tasks we have set for ourselves in all directions are being implemented.

Our foreign policy has been very active this year. I believe that important steps have been taken in the direction of foreign policy, and the international authority of our country has further increased. Speaking about the results, of course, I would like to mention our successful chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement. As you know, by a unanimous decision our chairmanship has been extended by one year until 2023. This shows that our country has gained a great reputation among 120 countries and their confidence in us has increased over the years. As a responsible country and active chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, we have made a great contribution to the institutional development of this organization. One of the important steps was the meeting of the Parliamentary Network of the Non-Aligned Movement Baku this year and the establishment of the Parliamentary Network. This important event held in Baku once again showed that this Movement has great potential, that it is a very important platform for deepening solidarity, as well as expanding cooperation and mutual international support. This was our initiative, and this initiative is already being manifested in real life. At the same time, the Youth Platform is being created. A youth forum will be held and a Youth Network of the Non-Aligned Movement will be established. Our chairmanship shows again that Azerbaijan remains true to its word. The role we play in the international arena, our solidarity and support for countries in need – humanitarian support, financial support, especially our support for more than 80 countries related to COVID – have significantly enhanced our international reputation, of course.

Active cooperation has also been maintained with other international organizations. Recently, the new Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation visited Azerbaijan. We cooperate very extensively with this organization. In fact, we are a very active member of this organization and many events have been held in Azerbaijan on our initiative. This time, the newly elected Secretary General also visited our liberated lands – Fuzuli and Shusha. Of course, during the meeting, we talked about the vandalism committed by Armenia against Azerbaijan and against our cultural heritage. Everyone visiting the liberated lands now, whether they are Azerbaijani or foreign citizens, can see the manifestations of Armenian brutality with their own eyes. We will successfully continue our activities within the framework of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

This year, active cooperation was maintained with the European Union. As you know, we are working on a new agreement. A greater part of the text has been agreed and the issues that have not been agreed on are being discussed. I do hope that all issues will be agreed on in the near future. I have had several meetings and phone conversations with the President of the Council of the European Union and, of course, the main topic has been the normalization of Azerbaijan-Armenia relations. However, at the same time, extensive discussions are being held regarding the future development of European Union-Azerbaijan relations. In the near future, an important document will be signed between the European Union and Azerbaijan – a document on energy security, which will raise our cooperation to a higher level.

Active cooperation was also carried out with other international organizations. Of course, Azerbaijan has always been active within the framework of the Organization of Turkic States. Our contacts are expanding both within the organization proper and with individual member countries. This year, I have had three meetings with the President of Turkiye. In April of this year, the President of Kyrgyzstan visited Azerbaijan. At the same time, in June, I visited Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, had meetings with the Presidents of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and with the Chairman of the People's Council of Turkmenistan. The visit of the President of Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan is expected next month. In other words, these are just visible results, and they show how actively these contacts are developing. They are developing actively. Of course, our relations with the Turkic states are one of our top priorities. Mutual political support is expressed, important projects are discussed – both in bilateral and multilateral formats. Active cooperation is being carried out in transport, energy and other fields.

Our relations with neighboring countries have always been one of our top priorities, and steps have been taken in this direction this year – my meetings with the presidents of Russia, Iran and Georgia are further evidence of that.

At the same time, important steps had been taken in the direction of the development of US-Azerbaijani relations. Reciprocal visits of high-ranking officials have been organized. The President of the United States of America sent me a letter twice – on the occasion of Independence Day and in connection with the opening of the Baku Energy Week. The importance of our relations was highlighted in my reply letters and in the letters sent to me. These relations have both a great history and a bright future. In other words, in a nutshell, just notice how much work has been done together with the main power centers, with neighboring countries, with Turkic states, with the main international organizations in these six months. If we look at the history of recent years in general, we will see that Azerbaijan is making headway in all directions. Our position has always been an independent one. We have always openly demonstrated our position, and this one of the reasons we have gained great respect in the world. We always keep our word. We are always loyal to the word we give. Of course, these international relations, the policy we are implementing in the region and the world as a whole allow us the opportunity to address internal problems with greater success. Because every country needs a positive international background to conduct domestic policy correctly – first of all, with its neighbors, and also in the world as a whole. Today, the results of the first six months show that we have been able to achieve that. I am sure this will continue to be the case. Because we already have an established and in-depth cooperation format, so to speak, with the major international players.

Even though certain steps towards the normalization of Azerbaijan-Armenia relations were taken in the first six months of this year, unfortunately, there are no tangible results yet. Although a year and eight months have passed since the Patriotic War, unfortunately, Armenia has yet to fulfill the obligations it was forced to take upon itself.

If we look at the positive points, I can only say that the first meeting of working groups on delimitation had been held. We see this as a positive step. This is something that took place on the initiative of our country because it was Azerbaijan that tried to take steps on the delimitation of the border as soon as possible. The Armenian side was not particularly inclined to do this. However, the first meeting was held. Of course, this meeting was more of an introductory nature. A second meeting is scheduled for next month. I believe that the second meeting will be devoted to the discussion of specific issues. Of course, we do not expect quick results from our cooperation in this format because delimitation is a long process. But in any case, this process has started, and we can consider it as a successful development.

Another positive development is the fact that Armenia had accepted the five basic basic principles that will form the basis of the peace treaty at the initiative of Azerbaijan. The Armenian leadership has officially accepted these five principles. The Azerbaijani public knows what these five principles are, so I won't repeat them. However, this initiative of Azerbaijan was praised during my discussions with all the counterparts I was in contact with. It is possible to say that the resolution of the conflict on the basis of these principles has been confirmed. Armenia has accepted and officially recognized that. We have discussed this issue with several neighboring countries – Turkiye, Russia and Iran, and this position has received support. The European Union, the United States of America – we have discussed this issue with these partners as well, and the basis for starting peace talks has now been created. Again, Azerbaijan put forward the initiative, we are the ones who developed these five principles, and if we had not taken this initiative upon ourselves, there would have been no progress in this direction to this day.

It is true that while Armenia's acceptance of our proposals aligned with international legal norms and principles is a positive development, there are no concrete steps yet. Foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia are meeting tomorrow. This will be the first meeting between the ministers and we look forward to the meeting producing results. I have had several meetings with the Prime Minister of Armenia, representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia have also had a meeting. But there hasn’t been a meeting between foreign ministers, this will be the first such meeting. But the issues to be discussed are already on the table. I think that a good outcome of this meeting could be the Armenian side establishing its own working group. Because the Azerbaijani side has already established its working group for the preparation of a peace treaty. Members of the group, those represented on that group have been identified. Armenia has yet to take this step. I think this could be viewed as a good result and then other issues can be discussed.

Unfortunately, even though a year and eight months have passed since the war, apart from that, I cannot recall any positive development. Regrettably, there are more negative developments. One of them is Armenia's refusal to address the issues identified in the Declaration signed on 10 November 2020. The Declaration of 10 November actually represents an act of capitulation on the part of Armenia, and as a side defeated in the war, Armenia assumed certain obligations. These obligations are explicitly stated there. One of them is the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Karabakh. This issue has not been resolved to this day. We have raised this issue many times, but Armenia keeps delaying it. At the same time, we raised this issue with the Russian military leadership, and a high-ranking official of the Russian Defense Ministry, while on a visit to Azerbaijan a few months ago, promised to our Defense Ministry that Armenian armed forces would withdraw from Karabakh by June. It is the middle of July now, but this issue has not been resolved yet. Armenia does not fulfill this obligations in contravention of the 10 November Declaration. Russian peacekeepers – the Russian side also signed the 10 November Declaration – do not force them to do so, so to speak. Of course, this is an intolerable situation because it is completely unacceptable for Armenian armed forces to remain on the territory of Azerbaijan. We are a victorious country and we have restored our territorial integrity. If Armenia does not intend to withdraw its armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan, then it should let us know this in clear terms, and we will consider our further actions. What will be our response? It would probably be inappropriate to say it now, but this is a flagrant violation of the 10 November Declaration.

The second negative point is that in the 10 November Declaration is that contact was supposed to be established between the main part of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, and Armenia obediently agreed to this and assumed this obligation. But so far we have not been given this opportunity. The Lachin road is open, and we made a commitment in the Declaration of 10 November that the Lachin road would work and that Azerbaijan guarantees the safety of that road. We have taken this upon ourselves as a commitment and we are following it. But we do not have the opportunity to go to Nakhchivan from the main part of Azerbaijan. Not only do we not have the opportunity to do that, we do not even see any work being done in this direction in the territory of Armenia.

To date, there is no feasibility study for the railway to be built in the Mehri section of the Zangazur corridor. No project can be implemented without a feasibility study, and it takes several months to prepare a feasibility study for the construction of a railway. So this work has not been started yet. The route of the highway has not been given to us. A year and eight months have passed. I have raised this issue many times, including three times during meetings with the Prime Minister of Armenia and President of the Council of Europe. To this day, we have not been given the route. The distance there is just 40 kilometers away. There cannot be multiple routes. It is also clear that there are not so many road routes that can be used in all seasons and 24 hours a day. So there is a reason why this route has not been given to us. Work in this direction has not been carried out, the feasibility study has not been prepared – Armenia does not want to fulfill this obligation, but it does not admit that. This is why we are demanding our own rights. If we are implementing all the provisions of the 10 November Declaration, we demand the same approach from Armenia. A year and eight months have passed since the end of the war, so everyone should take this into account.

Another issue is that the head of Armenia has once again started talking about some status lately. However, when the war ended, when Armenia signed the act of capitulation, there was a verbal agreement between us, the leaders of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia, that the issue of status would not be touched upon again. Armenia followed this for some time but this talk has recently become commonplace. Their prime minister and then their foreign minister have talked about the status of Karabakh. I said shortly after the war where the status went and what happened to it. I don't want to repeat myself. If someone in Armenia has forgotten this, I can repeat it. But I think it is not necessary for now. Therefore, I think that it is very dangerous for Armenia to talk about the status because we can also start talking about the status, we can demand status for Zangazur, the Zangazur that was severed from us in November 1920. We are not talking about it, but we can and see what the result is. There are a quite a few negative points of similar nature. Attempts are still being made to revive the now defunct Minsk group. The Minsk Group has now left the stage. We, a country participating in this process, are saying that there is no need for the Minsk Group. There is no need for a group that has not produced any result in 28 years. This is what we say. To put it mildly, a cold war is going on between co-chairs of the Minsk Group. They have actually admitted that the Minsk Group is not functional any more. The Russian side says that the Minsk Group is no longer active and that the other co-chairs have put an end to this institution. The Armenian side, meanwhile, says every minute that the Minsk Group has done this and that. What does this mean? Simply put, we see a territorial claim against our country behind this. On the one hand, Armenia accepts and acknowledges our five principles, including the mutual recognition of the territorial integrity of countries, the relinquishment of territorial claims against each other and other provisions, but on the other, it seems that the Minsk Group needs to be kept busy. Then the question is: what should it be doing? The Karabakh conflict has been resolved and the Karabakh issue has been closed. Karabakh is Azerbaijan! I said this, I said this quite rightly, and everyone is saying this now, including Armenia, which is forced to say this, says it unwillingly. All countries and organizations we are discussing this issue with are saying this.

So, as you can see and as you know, these negative trends are intensifying. In all matters, in order to resolve a problem or perform a proper analysis, you need to identify these trends correctly. So far, this has not brought about any serious complications. But if these harmful tendencies are not nipped in the bud, they may have consequences one day. We don't want that. We want peace. We don't want war. We never wanted war. Whatever we have done, we have done it on the territory of Azerbaijan, and we have done it in such a way that everyone can envy our military operation. But it is also impossible not to see these trends. This is why we see them, detect them, and warn. Let everyone draw a conclusion from our warnings, as they say. So much on this issue. I don't want to go into too much detail. Let me reiterate that we look forward to the meeting of foreign ministers tomorrow. We are waiting for the results of the meeting. And we will determine what steps will be taken after that.