Ilham Aliyev stood up for rights of Azerbaijanis in Iran

Baku/11.11.22/Turan: The Turkic states should not remain indifferent to the issues of the rights of compatriots living outside their borders in other countries of the world. This appeal was made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, speaking today in Samarkand at the summit of the leaders of the member-countries of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).

"The Turkic world consists not only of independent Turkic states, its geographical borders are wider. I believe that the time has come not to lose sight of such issues as the protection of the rights, security and national identity of our compatriots living outside the countries of the Organization of Turkic States, prevention of their assimilation.

It is time to pay attention to these issues on a permanent basis within the framework of the organization," Aliyev said.

The younger generation in the Turkic world should have the opportunity to study in their native language in the schools of the countries where they live, the President of Azerbaijan believes. "Unfortunately, most of the 40 million Azerbaijanis living outside Azerbaijan are deprived of these opportunities," Aliyev stressed, referring to ethnic Azerbaijanis living in Southern (Iranian) Azerbaijan.

"The education of our compatriots living outside the Turkic states in their native language should always be on the agenda of the organization. The necessary steps should be taken in this direction," Aliyev continued.

The Azerbaijani state pays special attention to ensuring the rights, freedoms and security of Azerbaijanis living in foreign countries. "We will continue to make efforts to preserve our language, traditions and culture, be true to the ideas of Azerbaijanism and never break ties with their historical homeland," he said.

In his speech, Aliyev also focused on the consequences of the 30-year-old Armenian aggression, which was eliminated by the victory of the Azerbaijani army in the Patriotic War of 2020.

However, Armenia continues provocations on the border even after the war.

"Finally, in September, the Azerbaijani armed forces were forced to launch a decisive counter-offensive operation to prevent a large-scale military provocation by Armenia," Aliyev stressed.

He stated the inconsistency of the Armenian's accusations of Azerbaijan "in military aggression". "We categorically reject these unfounded claims. We fought on our lands and defeated the Armenian army and expelled them from our ancestral lands. Today we are still on our native lands in the direction of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border," Aliyev further pointed out.

At the same time, he emphasized that the Karabakh conflict remained in history.

"Azerbaijan and Armenia officially recognized each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty in joint declarations adopted in Prague and Sochi in October. This shows once again that the Karabakh conflict has remained in history. The results of the second Karabakh war open up new opportunities for the region. Azerbaijan is actively promoting the creation of the Zangezur corridor performing large-scale activities on its territory to attain this goal. All countries of the region will benefit from the opening of the Zangezur corridor," Aliyev continued. -06B-