Aliyev: Azerbaijan's main goal was restoring its territorial integrity

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that over the 35 years of independence, Azerbaijan went through different periods but always believed it would achieve its goals. Speaking at the 7th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, he said that for most of those years the main goal was restoring the country's territorial integrity and liberating lands occupied by Armenia, according to Report.

Aliyev said that for many years negotiations produced no result. In his view, the negotiation format was designed so that the conflict would not be solved but frozen, and he said the world's main powers seemed to have a consensus on this. He noted that the miscalculation concerned only what the people of Azerbaijan thought and what the government planned.

The president said Azerbaijan was not meant to live as an occupied country, with the basic human rights of its people violated forever. After negotiations conducted with sincerity and hope led nowhere, he said the government resolved the issue, taking into account its legitimate rights, including the UN Charter and Article 51 on the right to self-defense.