Ilham Aliyev demanded from Karabakh Armenians to disband separatist structures

Baku/28.05.23/Turan: President Ilham Aliyev demanded that the Karabakh Armenians disband the separatist structures and obey the laws of Azerbaijan. If this demand be met, the officials of the illegal entities can count on amnesty. These messages were delivered by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on 28 May in Lachin, speaking to the first group of residents of that city who had returned to their homes. 

Armenians residing in the Karabakh region should learn lessons from the establishment of the Lachin border crossing on 23 April, which enabled the Azerbaijani side to fully control the traffic from Armenia to and from the Karabakh region.

"Unfortunately, even today they (Karabakh Armenians) are still hoping for someone to come and save them, to wage war against Azerbaijan. All this is nonsense. In the second Karabakh war we demonstrated strong will where no one dared to interfere from the outside, now, after we are again the masters of our lands, no one will come and fight with us instead of Armenians," Aliyev said.

He emphasized that the idea of "miatsum" has collapsed.

"The illusion of independence followed the status we sent to the right place during the second Karabakh war," Aliyev said.

According to Aliyev, Karabakh Armenians are faced with the only way out: "It is to obey the laws of Azerbaijan, become normal, loyal citizens of the country, throw their fake 'state' attributes in the dustbin and dissolve the “parliament'," Aliyev continued.

He also mentioned terms for the exoneration of Karabakh separatist officials.

"Everyone knows that we have every opportunity to conduct any operation in this region (Karabakh). Thus, the (separatist) 'parliament' must be dissolved, the so-called 'president' element must surrender, all 'ministers', 'deputies' and others must leave their positions. Only in this case, they may be granted a pardon, it will be possible to talk about an amnesty," Aliyev stressed.

Touching upon the signing of a peace treaty with Armenia, Aliyev noted that after Yerevan has recognized Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, "there are in fact no serious obstacles left for the signing of the agreement".

Head of state voiced his confidence that "the peace agreement may be signed in the near future, if Armenia does not cheat and change its position once again". "If it is signed, it is very good, if it is not signed it will cause no problems for Azerbaijan, because we are the strong side, we have a strong position at the negotiations table, we have a strong position on the border. Even without signing a peace treaty, we will live peacefully and safely", stressed the President of Azerbaijan.

Aliyev also referred to the opening of the road to Nakhchivan and the withdrawal of Armenian army units from Karabakh as conditions for a peaceful settlement.

"The delimitation of borders must take place on our terms, that is, on fair terms. The peace agreement must be based on international conditions, the road to Nakhchivan must be opened, and representatives of the Armenian army, who are still entrenched in Karabakh, must be withdrawn from there. These are our conditions," Aliyev said.-06B-