Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has urged Ukraine to “never agree to occupation” of territories in the ongoing war with Russia that is in its fourth year.
Speaking to participants of Third Shusha Media Forum held in Nagorno-Karabkh on Saturday, Aliyev said his country did not reconcile with what he described as nearly three decades of occupation of its territories by Armenia. "I think this is in line with the aspirations of the Ukrainian people. Never agree to occupation. That is the main advice. That is what we did," Aliyev said. He argued that the OSCE Minsk group – co-chaired by Russia, France and the US - that was mediating the conflict between Baku and Yerevan aimed to force Azerbaijan to accept the situation, rather than facilitate the peace process. “We began to create new realities in 2020, in 44 days. And they were forced to come to terms with them. And then, in September 2023, in just one day, and they were forced to come to terms with that too.”
Aliyev’s open remarks about Ukraine’s invasion by Russia came amid deterioration of Baku-Moscow ties that started with the downing of Azerbaijani Airlines passenger plane by a Russian air defence system in December and culminated in the police raids that killed two ethnics Azerbaijanis and injured dozens others in Russia’s Yekaterinburg city in early July. In the Media Forum, Aliyev announced that Azerbaijan has informed Russia that it is aspiring to file an international lawsuit over the downing of the passenger plane, revealing that Russia has failed to respond to queries by the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office despite seven months having passed since the deadly crash that killed 38 passengers on board.
