CICA Summit: Azerbaijan stresses sovereignty, justice and fragile peace

Azerbaijan successfully hosted the 7th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) yesterday. The summit concluded with the adoption of the Baku Declaration.

Discussions focused on the concept "Stronger CICA: Connectivity, Digitalization and Sustainable Development in Asia," put forward during the first term of Azerbaijan's chairmanship of the organization. Azerbaijan's CICA chairmanship was extended for another two years.

Addressing the summit, President Ilham Aliyev said: "First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to all CICA member states for the unanimous support shown for Azerbaijan's chairmanship in 2024. We regard this as a sign of respect and trust, as well as a demonstration of support for our chairmanship activities on a number of international platforms."

Azerbaijan has demonstrated that it is a reliable partner globally by hosting a number of international events both while its territories were under occupation and in the subsequent period.

In his speech, the president highlighted Baku's activities in promoting peace, security and cooperation internationally, saying Azerbaijan's political, economic, transport, energy and humanitarian cooperation with many states in bilateral and multilateral formats also strengthens the regional security system.

Azerbaijan's activity on the global stage was continuously hindered by the occupation of its territories. A number of countries treated Azerbaijan unfairly, while foreign forces consistently supported those in power in Armenia.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan and Nikol Pashinyan, relying on their patrons, occupied Azerbaijani territories, committed genocide in those areas, contributed to the continuation of the occupation and commanded Armenian Armed Forces during fighting on Azerbaijani territory in the 44-day war.

The president recalled the four resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council regarding the liberation of Azerbaijan's occupied territories, stressing that their implementation remained on paper for 30 years. He also said the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group, established in 1992 to resolve the issue, amounted to an imitation of a settlement process.

The international community's indifference to crimes committed by Armenians in Azerbaijan and the absence of punishment contributed to prolonging the occupation of Azerbaijani territories.

At the CICA Summit, President Ilham Aliyev pointed to the fact that Ter-Petrosyan, Kocharyan and Sargsyan have still not been punished.

"The former leadership of Armenia - all three former presidents of Armenia and their supporters, these war criminals and child killers - have still not received the punishment they deserve. Armenia's current leadership has continued the criminal policy of its predecessors since 2018," he said.

The patrons of Ter-Petrosyan and Pashinyan, as well as the Armenian lobby, have sought - and continue to seek - to create a false perception of the Armenian authorities in the international community by portraying them as "democratic" and "peace-loving."

However, genocide, massacres, and the destruction of settlements, administrative and social buildings in Azerbaijan's formerly occupied Karabakh and surrounding districts began during Ter-Petrosyan's presidency.

On November 20, 1991, 22 people were killed when Armenians shot down a Mi-8 helicopter near the village of Garakand in Azerbaijan's Khojavand district. Azerbaijani state officials were among those on board.

Ter-Petrosyan was also president when the Khojaly genocide was committed. He was brought up in a spirit of hostility toward Turks. From this perspective, presenting him to society as a democrat is wrong.

Accordingly, for acts committed against humanity and activities contrary to the laws of war, they are persons who should be tried under the Rome Statute before the International Criminal Court, of which Armenia is a member.

Following the events of 2020, Nikol Pashinyan has been awarded a "peace prize" and portrayed as a "democrat" in the South Caucasus.

Yet he is the same head of government whose team members, disregarding international law, norms and relations, made statements about occupying new Azerbaijani territories. Pashinyan himself danced in occupied Azerbaijani territories and voiced assertive slogans.

Ilham Aliyev also drew the summit participants' attention to an earlier period of Pashinyan's activities.

"The current Prime Minister of Armenia declared in 2019 in Khankendi, Karabakh, which was under occupation at the time, that 'Karabakh is Armenia, period.' During that period, Armenia's defense minister threatened Azerbaijan with a new war for new territories. The international, so-called international community turned a blind eye to all this excessive brazenness. No one condemned Armenia for occupation, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and massacres, or for the desecration of the Azerbaijani people's religious sacred sites," he said.

Now, the international community is almost trying to present them to the world as peace-loving figures.

Because those who led the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, including Nikol Pashinyan, were not punished for their actions during the occupation period, they are now engaged in what the article describes as "revanchist" activities in Armenia.

Explaining to summit participants the reasons that led to the state of war, the president spoke about Azerbaijan's liberation of its territories from occupation, Armenia's capitulation, the restoration of territorial integrity and sovereignty, and the arrest of those accused of crimes.

"This is exactly what happened in September 2023, when the 'Iron Fist' of the Azerbaijani soldier once again had its say.

"In less than 24 hours, Armenia's occupying army in Karabakh was completely crushed. Azerbaijan fully restored its sovereignty and territorial integrity and put an end to separatism. The leaders of the separatists, war criminals and child killers were brought before an Azerbaijani court," he said.

Arayik Harutyunyan, Ruben Vardanyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arkadi Ghukasyan, David Babayan, Davit Ishkhanyan, Levon Mnatsakanyan and Davit Manukyan are among those accused of crimes against Azerbaijan who were tried and punished.

The president characterized their trial as follows:

"In essence and form, this was analogous to the Nuremberg Tribunal [the international tribunal against the political and military leadership of Nazi Germany after World War II - ed.]. But this time, Armenian fascists were sitting in the defendants' dock."

The individuals in question were brought up in a spirit of hostility toward Azerbaijan, Azerbaijanis and Turks.

Those who occupied Azerbaijani territories and expelled Azerbaijanis from their homes were educated within a system of national thought based on tseghakronism ("tsegh" - tribe, lineage, race; "kron" - faith), Armenian nationalism and hostility toward Turks. The history of this racism dates back to the period when the ideology of European fascism was taking shape.

From this perspective, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Armenian fascism manifested itself in Western Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan in all the characteristics of fascism. Their fate was also similar to that of fascists.

The military hardware and other equipment of the defeated army were seized by the victorious side. The fascists had once said they would parade in Moscow and seize Baku oil, making no secret of these intentions.

Armenian leaders, in turn, lived with fantasies of drinking tea in Baku and seizing its oil.

The president also highlighted this point in his speech:

"Those who threatened us that they would come in tanks, occupy Baku and drink tea here are today drinking Azerbaijani tea in our prisons. Their tanks are displayed in the Military Trophy Park.

"Incidentally, to fully understand the essence and nature of the occupation, as well as the Azerbaijani people's historic Victory, our guests can visit Victory Park, the Victory Museum and the Military Trophy Park."

Unfortunately, there are also people in the United States, the European Union, including France and Germany, who make what the article describes as unlawful and inhumane calls for convicted Armenian fascists in Azerbaijan to be released.

Those people do not demand punishment for those who led the occupation of Azerbaijani territories and caused the deaths of thousands of people there.

Ter-Petrosyan, Kocharyan, Sargsyan and others repeated the acts of German fascists in terms of scale and duration. Those tried in Baku are also occupiers, killers and racists. Time has confirmed this, and the court proceedings held have also delivered their verdicts.

The president also spoke at the summit about Azerbaijan's commitment to peace. He stressed that Azerbaijan did not choose war and that Armenia had forced it into one.

Armenia and its patrons believed that through political, diplomatic and economic pressure, as well as statements based on official Yerevan's war rhetoric, they could force Baku to give up its territories. Those who held this belief, however, were mistaken.

According to President Ilham Aliyev, Armenia's patrons apparently did not expect Azerbaijan to restore its sovereignty and international law by force.

"But they were all mistaken. Apparently, they did not know well enough the character of our proud, freedom-loving people who live by our traditions and moral values," he said.

The president stressed that Azerbaijan won the war.

"However, we did not take revenge on them for 30 years of suffering, genocide, and the destruction of our cities and villages. We took our revenge on the battlefield and offered Armenia peace. Here, once again, the moral qualities of our people manifested themselves. We did not strike those who were already defeated. We did not descend to the level of the barbarians and child killers who had caused so much suffering to our people. We offered peace, and for a little more than a year now we have been living in peace. This peace is still fragile; it must be protected and strengthened," he said.

With this statement, the head of state called on Armenia's leadership to fulfill the commitments it has undertaken within the peace agreement and normalization process.

The Azerbaijani president's remarks also constitute a call to CICA member states, as some of the world's largest conflicts are taking place in Asia.

Referring to Armenia's occupation and capitulation, Ilham Aliyev said confrontational approaches by states toward one another benefit only external forces and patrons. Ilham Aliyev clearly demonstrated, through the example of Azerbaijan and Armenia, that interaction, cooperation, peace and relations are possible even between irreconcilable sides.