“We are always committed to our responsibility and the decision to announce the ceasefire on humanitarian grounds as you know came from Russia and we supported it. Because I think it was a right decision in order to exchange the bodies of the dead soldiers and also hostages. Also to continue the activity on the negotiation table. Because the declaration which was announced in Moscow actually provided that negotiations will be based on the basic principles. That was always our position,” the head of state said.

President Aliyev pointed out that the Armenian side always tried to disrupt the process and was trying to introduce new approaches on negotiation table, which were rejected by Azerbaijan, and by the Minsk Group co-chairs.

He said the most important part of the declaration along with other issues was that the format of negotiations will be unchanged.

“And that’s very important because for broad international audience maybe it’s not very clear what it means. I will probably give some more information about that. Because for the last two years after the new government in Armenia came to power, one of their activity was to bring the so-called “authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh” to the negotiation table and thus, to change the format. Because for more than 20 years, negotiations are being held between Armenia and Azerbaijan within the framework of the Minsk Group process. So, the attempts to bring the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh authorities” was an attempt to change the format. So, when both sides commit that the format is unchanged that means that everything just is within the framework of what has been agreed before,” the head of state added.   

President Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan is observing the ceasefire.

“But as you know Armenia brutally violated it and not only in Ganja. Attack on civilians in Ganja was reflection of their aggressive policy. And also, they everyday violate ceasefire. I was informed this morning that since 7 o’clock to 9 o’clock in the morning they more than 150 times shelled the city of Tartar and Aghdam. And unfortunately, we have one victim today among civilians in Tartar,” he concluded.

More about: Ilham-Aliyev   Nagorno-Karabakh