Azernews.Az

President Ilham Aliyev has said that the UN Security Council resolutions demanding the withdrawal of Armenian troops that were adopted in the 1990s have not been implemented to this day.

Aliyev made the remarks in an interview with Al Jazeera TV channel, while commenting on the ongoing military clashes near Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region that has been under Armenian occupation, along with seven adjacent Azerbaijani regions since 1994.

“In some cases, as you know, Security Council resolutions are being implemented within days, if not hours, but in our case it is on paper for so many years. So, lack of practical pressure on aggressor is also one of the reasons the conflict lasts so long,” President Ilham Aliyev said.

Aliyev also said that Armenia has been staging provocations and sought to start a new war to disrupt the negotiations.

“If we look at what Armenia did after the so-called ‘revolution’, during the last two years, and what they declare, we will see that they were almost provoking us, and they were aiming at starting a new war and the reason is to disrupt negotiations completely. They made several military provocations against Azerbaijan. On 12 July, they attacked our villages and our military positions far away from the region of the conflict, in the area of Tovuz, in the western part of Azerbaijan, on Armenian-Azerbaijani border. And it was absolutely difficult to understand why they did it. They attacked us with the heavy artillery. The first victims among military servicemen were Azerbaijanis, four our military servicemen were killed immediately, and one 76 year old villager.

“We had to respond, and after we responded and they suffered bitter defeat, they withdrew and started to plea for a ceasefire and then I said that we do not have any military objectives on the territory of Armenia. Therefore, as soon as we pushed them back and they already realized that it didn’t work, the clashes stopped,” the president said.

Aliyev said that Azerbaijan will keep its position unchanged.

"What I am demanding is absolutely in line with international law, because the whole world recognizes territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and no country in the world recognizes the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic”. What I am saying is completely almost the wording of the UN Security Council resolutions. And they need to leave our territory, and then, the war will stop and then the conflict will come to an end."

“Maybe some time later people of Azerbaijan and Armenia can again live together, in peace. So, that’s our position, and it is unchanged, and it is based on historical truth, it is based on international law and also it is based on today’s political and geo-political realities in our region. I think Armenian government overestimated their so-called importance on global arena, overestimated the possible international support to them and made very serious mistakes provoking us, attacking us and now they are suffering the very serious defeat,” the head of state said.

Furthermore, Aliyev said that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries - U.S., Russia and France - that are mediating the conflict for 17 years - must be neutral.

"We believe that three countries should continue to work together if all of them keep neutrality. This is important. And we are concerned that just recent days we see some statements which are counter-productive and which are demonstrating a kind of a change in the position in neutrality. Every country can have its position, it is normal. But if you are a mediator in such a sensitive issue, you should act in this capacity. If you want to act in your national capacity, of course, but then you should step down from the Minsk Group co-chairmanship and say whatever you want accuse whomever you want, deliver stories about what happened which has no proof and of course, nobody would object. But if you are a mediator you have to be neutral. You have to be a mediator, otherwise mediation will not be acceptable by us,” the head of state emphasized.

Commenting on Russia that is one of the co-chairing countries, Aliyev said: "Russia has a special position, because it’s a neighbor to Azerbaijan, neighbor to the region. It does not have a state border with Armenia, but nevertheless, Russia is a country which Azerbaijan and Armenia have good relations and historical relations. Therefore, of course, their role, their, I would say, capability to mediate are much higher due to objective reasons from those who are situated far away from the region and maybe not completely know what was happening here during the last decades.”

Earlier on September 24, President Aliyev said that updated timetable for withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Azerbaijan’s occupied territories must be prepared in line with the UN Security Council resolution 853.

Armenia has failed to abide by the requirements of numerous decisions adopted by international organizations, including, first of all, those reflected in the UN Security Council Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of 1993, regarding the withdrawal of Armenian occupying forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Armenian forces launched a large-scale military attack on positions of Azerbaijani army on the front line, using large-caliber weapons, mortars and artillery on Sept. 27.

Azerbaijan launched a counter-offensive operation along the entire front to suppress the combat activity of the Armenian armed forces and ensure the safety of the civilian population. Azerbaijan liberated Garakhanbeyli, Garvend, Kend Horadiz, Yukhari Abdulrahmanli villages of Fizuli district, Boyuk Marjanli, and Nuzgar villages of Jabrayil district as well as strategically-important Murov height and destroyed the positions of the Armenian armed forces in the direction of the Agdere district and Murovdag.

19 Azerbaijani civilians have been killed and 55 others have been injured in Armenian attacks on Azerbaijan’s civilian infrastructures since 27 September. Among the killed civilians are three children, three women as well as five members of the same family.