For 30 years, while Azerbaijani lands remained under occupation, meaningless negotiations were conducted repeatedly.
According to the Operative Information Center-OMM, President Ilham Aliyev made these remarks during the opening ceremony of the Islamic Development Bank Group’s 2026 Annual Meetings held in Baku.
Referring to the former OSCE Minsk Group, the head of state stated that their sole objective was to keep Azerbaijani territories under Armenian occupation:
"The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group—France, Russia, and the US, who are permanent members of the UN Security Council and had the mandate to achieve peace and liberate our territories from occupation—could not compel Armenia to withdraw from Azerbaijan's territories. The conduct of negotiations stemmed from their joint decision," the President noted.
President Ilham Aliyev declared that Azerbaijan changed the situation:
"At the beginning of the negotiation process, we had high hopes. We tried to resolve the issue through peace and convince major countries that the truth was on our side. We were right. Our territories were occupied. Look at the map; Armenian troops were on our territory. In response, we heard: 'Go and reach an agreement.' That was one message. There was no other solution. The third message was: 'You cannot start a war.' The fourth message was: 'If you start a war, we will impose sanctions.'"
The Second Garabagh War, which concluded in 2020, marked a turning point in the South Caucasus. By liberating its internationally recognized territories, Azerbaijan ended three decades of Armenian occupation, effectively dismantling the status quo that international mediators had failed to resolve for years.
