President Ilham Aliyev stated that Azerbaijan had no intention of destroying Armenia or undermining its independence, emphasizing that there is no need for external forces to protect Yerevan from Baku.
According to the Operative Information Center-OMM, the head of state made these remarks during a meeting with residents in the city of Zangilan. Addressing the presence of the European monitoring mission on the border, President Ilham Aliyev said: "Today, so-called European observers are still on duty at the Azerbaijan-Armenia border. I said back then that if we fired a single bullet, they would disappear without a trace. Yet, they act as if they are protecting Armenia from us. There is no need to protect Armenia from us; we have already achieved our goals."
The European Union Mission in Armenia (EUMA) was deployed following border escalations to monitor the situation on the Armenian side of the international border with Azerbaijan. Baku has repeatedly expressed skepticism regarding the mission's transparency and objectives, maintaining that regional stability should be maintained through direct bilateral dialogue rather than third-party interference. Since the full restoration of its territorial integrity, Azerbaijan has focused on the "Great Return" program, involving massive infrastructure projects and the resettlement of former internally displaced persons to liberated regions like Zangilan.
