"Our task is to restore the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and we are getting closer to it. We have been waiting for this for almost 30 years. Azerbaijan has been seriously committed to the negotiation process all this time," the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, said in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Republica.
"Unfortunately, the negotiation process did not bring substantial results. Besides, over the past few years, the Armenian leadership has constantly provoked us with its statements and actions, including military provocations. The last provocation took place on September 27. We had to answer. We wanted to decide everything at the negotiating table, but at the same time, we were ready for a military solution, which is happening now," Aliyev said.
Aliyev said that now there may be more Armenians living in the area because all Azerbaijanis have been expelled.
"They carried out ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis. These are statistics, not ours, but statistics from the Soviet period. How many people lived in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region in the late 1970s? Almost 25 percent of the population were Azerbaijanis, 40,000 people. Ninety-eight percent of people living in Shusha were Azerbaijani", Aliyev noted.
According to the President of Azerbaijan, all those who live in Nagorno-Karabakh will live there peacefully and with dignity.
"Armenians are our citizens. Thousands of Armenians live in different parts of Azerbaijan, mainly in Baku. I assure the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh that their security will be taken care of, their financial situation will improve, and they will live better than today," Aliyev stated.
