Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has advised Ukraine “not to put up” with the Russian occupation of its territories by Russia, he said at a media forum in the town of Shusha, answering a question from Ukrainian journalist Dmitriy Gordon.
Aliyev drew parallels between the situation of Azerbaijan, part of whose territory – Nagorno-Karabakh and neighbouring areas – Baku did not control for about 30 years. Azerbaijan eventually gained control of Karabakh by armed force in 2023, which was abandoned by almost all of its Armenian population.
“Over the years of the negotiation process – and I have been involved in it since the end of 2003 – over 17 years, there have been very many proposals, very many meetings. There were very many messages about coming to terms with the realities. And then we decided that we will create new realities and you will put up with them,” the Azerbaijani president said.
Therefore, Aliyev advised to “never agree to occupation”.
Azerbaijan officially supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Earlier Baku expressed dissatisfaction with the statements of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who, speaking about a possible peaceful settlement in Ukraine, also drew parallels between the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia and Karabakh. Baku was outraged that he called Karabakh a disputed region.
In addition, speaking in Shusha, Aliyev said that Azerbaijan was preparing documents to file with international courts in connection with the crash of an AZAL airline plane last December.
Azerbaijani authorities are convinced that the plane was shot down by Russian air defence systems while attempting to land. near Aktau.
“We know what happened and we can prove it. We know that Russian officials are also aware of what happened. The question is why they do not do what any neighbour did in such a situation?”,- Aliyev said.
He noted that Baku has not received a single clear answer from the Russian side for seven months. Aliyev reiterated that Azerbaijan demands from Russia to admit guilt, punish those responsible for the plane’s death, pay compensation to the families of the dead and injured and compensate losses.
Back in February, Azerbaijani media reported that such a lawsuit was being prepared. At that time, the APA news agency said that “the door for dialogue with Russia is open”.