“Over the past 17 years we have received repeated signals from various places, from outside circles that we should take five districts now and be content with it. We were told that we had been defeated in the war, that Armenia had won – the implication was the first Karabakh war. We were told to come to terms with this reality. The five districts we were being given were described as a big deal, while Lachin and Kalbajar were supposed to be left for later. We were also told that when we granted independence to Nagorno-Karabakh, then part of these districts could be transferred to us,” said President Ilham Aliyev as he addressed the nation.

“I always said that if Lachin, Kalbajar and Shusha did not return to Azerbaijan, then there can be no agreement. My position irritated many in foreign countries. I was saying that our territorial integrity must be restored. I said that the military option is never ruled out. I not only spoke about that. For all these years, having mobilized our resources, we strengthened the country, gathered strength – gathered strength at the international level, within the country, in resolving economic issues, in strengthening the solidarity and unity in the country, and in army building. We have turned this strength into an iron fist, broken the enemy’s back and created a new reality. If some were telling us to come to terms with reality a year ago, I say to them today that everyone should come to terms with the new reality,” the head of state noted.