Ilham Aliyev vows to return Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan, demands Armenian pullout timetable

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says Nagorno-Karabakh region is an inalienable part of Azerbaijan and that it must return to the country, demanding that neighboring Armenia set a timetable for a swift pullout from the disputed enclave.

“Azerbaijan has one condition, and that is the liberation of its territories,” said Aliyev, in a televised address to the nation on Sunday, stressing that “Nagorno-Karabakh is the territory of Azerbaijan. We must return and we shall return.”

The Azerbaijani leader’s tone made clear that he would not welcome calls for an immediate ceasefire as Russia, the United States, and the European Union (EU), among others, have already urged Baku several times to hold a truce.

Aliyev also said Baku in the past had repeatedly called for sanctions against Armenia, but all to no avail, blaming Yerevan and some European leaders for the current situation.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of the Republic of Azerbaijan; it has been under Armenia’s control since the early 1990s. The territory declared independence from Azerbaijan in 1991.

The recent clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenian-backed separatist forces from the contested region – the worst in decades – erupted on September 27, with both Yerevan and Baku accusing each other of provocation.

During the past week, hundreds of people have reportedly been killed in the fighting between Azerbaijani troops and ethnic Armenian forces, including more than 40 civilians.

So far, the main clashes have been between Azerbaijani forces and Armenian-backed separatist forces of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan.

However, as fighting escalates, concern is that it will turn into a direct war with Armenia, which has so far denied that it had directed fire “of any kind” toward Azerbaijan.

Aliyev further vowed on Sunday that Baku would not cease military action until Yerevan set a timetable for withdrawing from Nagorno-Karabakh and acknowledge that the enclave is part of Azerbaijan.

“The Azeri soldier is chasing them like a dog, the Azeri soldier is standing at their posts, we have taken their weaponry, we are carrying out the mission of liberation,” he added.

Earlier on Sunday, Turkey denounced Armenia for “attacks” on civilians in Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second-largest city. The condemnation came shortly after Baku confirmed that the “enemy forces” from “Armenia” had placed Ganja “under fire” earlier in the day.

The city of more than 330,000 inhabitants is in western Azerbaijan.

Ankara backs Baku in the decades-long dispute over the ethnic Armenian breakaway region, which Azerbaijan considers under Armenian occupation. Turkey and Azerbaijan have strong relations and both consider themselves “one nation, two states.”

Azerbaijan’s presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev, for his part, vowed on Sunday that his country would “destroy military targets directly inside Armenia from which shelling of its population centers is taking place.”

The intensifying conflict also threatens to drag in other regional powers as Azerbaijan is fully supported by Turkey, while Armenia has signed a defense deal with Russia.

The growing clashes have also aroused international concern over stability in the South Caucasus, where pipelines carry Azerbaijan’s oil and gas to world markets.

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