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President Ilham Aliyev has said that Armenia must provide dates when its armed forces will leave each occupied Azerbaijani district before the cease-fire can be announced.

The president made the remarks in an interview with TRT TV channel on October 6.

“The issue of restoring the ceasefire alone cannot be discussed. We have demands. I have already officially stated this. We must have very serious guarantees. International mediators must confirm these guarantees to us. At the same time, we must be given a schedule for Armenia's withdrawal from the occupied territories, the dates on which it will leave each district. Of course, then the war will stop. We want this issue to be resolved peacefully, but it must be resolved,” Aliyev said.

Aliyev laid out four conditions after which Azerbaijan will stop its counter-attack operations that are aimed at liberating the country’s lost territories.

“The prime minister of Armenia said on our lands a year ago that “Karabakh is Armenia”. He should apologize to the people of Azerbaijan. Secondly, he must say that Karabakh is not Armenia. Third, he must respect the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Fourth, he must declare the dates on which Armenian armed forces will leave each district. These conditions must be approved by the Minsk Group co-chairs. In that case, of course, the ceasefire will be restored, this issue will be resolved through discussion and the Azerbaijani people will return to their native lands. But we need to know when this will happen because we have been waiting for 30 years. The promises given to us and the words spoken for 30 years have not been implemented. The Azerbaijani people can no longer stand this. The Azerbaijani state cannot stand this any longer. We need to be told specific dates of when they will vacate each district,” Aliyev said.

Why were the resolutions of the United Nations not implemented? Why weren’t any sanctions imposed on the aggressor state? All these questions remain valid. There are no answers to these questions.”

The president said that at the first stage, Armenians must leave five districts, at the next stage they must leave two more districts, then Azerbaijanis expelled from Nagorno-Karabakh must return to Nagorno-Karabakh, including Shusha, life is restored between two communities, the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is opened, trade begins, then people come into contact with each other and thus peace comes to the region. So this is our position, and this is the attitude of international mediators and co-chairs.

“Armenia does not accept this. In addition, the Armenian defense minister said a few months ago that we must start a new war for new territories.”

Aliyev said that the Azerbaijani Army is conducting successful operations and liberating Azerbaijan’s ancestral lands.

“War has its own rules, its own laws. Every day has its own significance. If we take a break, the other side will gather strength and deploy additional forces. Their speeches already show that they are also involving Armenians living outside Armenia in this war. Thus, they want to take this war out of the regional arena and turn it into a global war. Therefore, our position on the ceasefire is quite explicit. We are ready for that but there are certain conditions that I have also announced.”

The president further said that Armenia seeks to involve third countries to the conflict by attacking Azerbaijan from the territory of Armenia.

“We believe that this should not be allowed. This is a war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We did not start this war. We are not the cause of this war. We are simply defending ourselves and want our lands back. We do not set our sights on Armenian lands. As a result of the clashes started by Armenians on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in July, the Azerbaijani Army did not cross into Armenian territory, although we could have done that. We struck them hard and they retreated. There were no obstacles in front of us. We didn't do that because, as I said, we do not have any military targets on the territory of the Republic of Armenia.

“Today, Armenia is attacking Azerbaijan from the territory of Armenia. Yesterday, Ganja was hit from the territory of Armenia, Mingachevir was hit. We have a big station there. One of the shells hit the station. True, their shells are such that some of them did not explode. Some were destroyed by our air defense systems in the air. They are provoking us to attack Armenia and strike at Armenia. Then they will start telling the whole world that Azerbaijan is attacking us, save Armenia, that is, come to Armenia’s rescue.”

Speaking about the casualties in the ongoing clashes, Aliyev stressed that the Azerbaijani Army hits only military targets and does not target civilians.

“This is already clear to everyone in the videos. Everyone can see that. We are fighting only against the occupying army of Armenia. We have never fought against the civilian population. We do not and will not do that.”

Russia’s position on conflict

Speaking about Russia’s position on the conflict, Aliyev said that Russia is being neutral despite Armenia’s hopes.

“Russia is our neighbor. Our relations with Russia are developing successfully. Today, the relations between Russia and Azerbaijan are at a very high level in many areas. Both countries view this relationship as a strategic partnership, which is confirmed by the joint agreements. Russia acts as a very responsible and large country. Positive messages are coming from Russia, and support for any party is not a topic of discussion. However, Armenia had high hopes for that. Armenia's goal in taking the conflict out of the region is to engage Russia.”

The president stressed that the reason why Armenia is currently attacking Azerbaijan from the territory of Armenia is to provoke Azerbaijan to strike back to so that they could appeal for help to the general secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, of which they are a member together with Russia and other countries.

“Why did they commit this provocation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in July? Tovuz is located far from the Karabakh region. What goals did they have there – one goal was to make us launch an attack, cross the state border – as I said, we had such an opportunity – and then to ask the organization to come and fight with us against Azerbaijan. In other words, they want to involve Russia in this. This is yet another provocation, and I am sure it will not succeed.”

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