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Joint Press Conference of the President of Azerbaijan
Ilham Aliyev and the President of the European Commission
Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels
April 28, 2009
Following the lunch, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the
European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso made statements for the media.
Following their statements, President Ilham Aliyev and Jose Manuel Barroso
responded to questions.
Question (Shahin Jafarov, AzerTAc News Agency): My question is to Mr. Pres-
ident Aliyev and Mr. Barroso. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia are members of East-
ern Partnership Initiative while Armenia still continues occupation of Azerbaijani
territories. What is your opinion of this situation?
Ilham Aliyev: We discussed this issue with Mr. President. Occupation of our
lands by Armenia for many years is the biggest threat not only to Azerbaijan, but
also to the regional security and stability. This is the biggest injustice we witness
for almost two decades in our region. The internationally recognized territories of
Azerbaijan are under occupation by a neighboring country. As a result of this occu-
pation million of Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people in
our country. As a result of the policy of ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis, seven
regions around the administrative border of Nagorno-Karabakh are under control of
Armenian armed forces. We are trying to resolve the conflict based on the norms of
the international law, on the decisions made by the OSCE, on the resolutions of the
Security Council of the United Nations, which demand unconditional withdrawal
of Armenian armed forces from our territory. Sometimes Armenian position means
that people of Nagorno-Karabakh should have a right of self-determination. This
right does not mean that self-determination should lead to violation of territorial
integrity of Azerbaijan. Armenians, as a nation, have already self-determined them-
selves. They have a sovereign Armenian state. If to follow this logic there might
be 20 states worldwide with Armenian population. Second, self-determination of
Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Nagorno-Karabakh can happen and should happen
in the framework of the sovereign Azerbaijani state. This is what the norms of the
international law demand, this is what Azerbaijan is firmly stands on. I am sure that
only on this basis the conflict can be resolved.
Jose Manuel Barroso: Yes, of course, as you said both Azerbaijan and Armenia
are partners in the Eastern Partnership and let me once again say that we highly
evaluate all efforts made to continue talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan to find
solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. And we hope to see some progress in
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this regard. We encourage the dialogue to take place soon, and I know President
Aliyev is going to meet President of Armenia in Prague. We support all efforts to
reach solution of this problem since it affects both countries with which we want
to develop constructive and good relations. We will support to reduce the tension
in the region. We believe that it is also important. Some aspects to achieve certain
progress are set to create better atmosphere in the region.
Question (Sabah Daily): My question will be to both President Barroso and
President Aliyev. Have you discussed the recent rapprochement between Armenia
and Turkey, and what are your positions on this issue? Thank you.
Jose Manuel Barroso: Yes, we have discussed. We had very good and friendly
talk. Everything is discussed among friends. We have also discussed this issue very
openly. First of all, let me tell you I fully understand the sensitivity of the issue for
Azerbaijan. We understand it. President Aliyev was very clear what it means for
Azerbaijani people, how sensitive it is. At the same time, you may understand that
we, in the European Union, are happy that the tension is eased. We also appreciate
ease of the tension between Turkey and Armenia. As you know traditionally there
are very important problems between Turkey and Armenia. We believe that this is
helpful for the region as a whole. So, yes, we welcome these positive developments.
But that does not mean that we do not want to see the solution of the Nagorno-
Karabakh conflict. I want to make that clear that we do hope and encourage the
efforts, namely the efforts made by Azerbaijan and Armenia, to reach the solution
of the problem. So that was basically our position, the position that we have stated
before publicly. Today I have stated to President Aliyev, too. Once again, I want to
thank him for the very honest and open clarification of the sensitivity of this issue
for the people of Azerbaijan.
Ilham Aliyev: We discussed with Mr. President very bWay range of issues, in-
cluding regional development, regional cooperation, and of course, when we talk
about regional cooperation we cannot avoid discussing the recent developments in
the region. We expressed our positions on several occasions, which mean that we
never interfere into neither internal affairs of any country nor into relations between
two sovereign countries. It is a decision to be made by Turkey and Armenia. It is
their choice, how they would prefer to continue their relations. But as regards the
historic roots of this problem, I would like to mention that the border between Tur-
key and Armenia was closed in 1993 as a result of the occupation of the territories
of Azerbaijan by Armenia. Today Armenia still continues to occupy internationally
recognized territory of Azerbaijan. Again I would like to say that we are not in the
position of moving ahead or preventing any relations between two countries. The
only thing which I would like to mention is that we also have the right to adjust our
policy to the existing realities in the region. Today we hear a lot of controversial