President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on Wednesday — Independence Day — threatened to deliver an “appropriate response” to Armenia if it continues, what he called, “using threats.”
Speaking in occupied Lachin, Aliyev also that the use of force to “liberate lands” should be a source of pride.
“Today, Armenia must think carefully. No one can speak to us with ultimatums and let them [Armenia] not place their hopes on others,” Aliyev said. “I will say once again, no one or nothing can stop us.”
“We support rights, justice and international law. We are defending, have protected and restored our territorial integrity. We have demonstrated to the entire world what we are capable of. We liberated our lands by use of force and we are proud of it,” Aliyev added.
The Azerbaijani leader said that Armenia does not want peace and has vengeful aspirations. He complained that official Yerevan allegedly has delayed the border delimitation process for almost a year, saying that there are no discussions about maps.
Aliyev emphasized that Azerbaijan has brought together maps from the 20th century and other eras. He demanded that the delimitation processes take place based on those documents.
“If Armenia wants to accuse us of entering their territory, then there is not justification for that. First of all, if the borders were where they claim they should be, then engineering efforts would have taken place,” said Aliyev.
“They thought that Karabakh and Zangezur were going to be left to them. That is why they have not done anything on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border,” Aliyev added.
