Azerbaijan Calls on Ukraine Not to «Reconcile» with Occupation

Ilham Aliyev

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev advised Ukraine "not to reconcile" with the occupation of its territories by Russia. He made this statement at a media forum in the city of Shusha on July 20, in response to a question from Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon.

Aliyev drew parallels between the situation in Azerbaijan, a part of whose territory — Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas — was not controlled by Baku for about 30 years, and Ukraine. Eventually, Azerbaijan militarily established control over Karabakh in 2023, which almost its entire Armenian population then left.

"During the years of the negotiation process, and I participated in it from the end of 2003, for 17 years, there were many proposals, many meetings. There were many messages that we should reconcile with the realities," the Azerbaijani president said. "And then we decided that we would create new realities, and you would reconcile with them. That's what happened," Aliyev noted.

At the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, Azerbaijan maintained a neutral stance. Baku supported Ukraine's territorial integrity but refrained from condemning Russia's actions. In international organizations like the UN and the Council of Europe, during discussions of resolutions condemning Russian aggression, Azerbaijan did not participate in the voting.