Yerevan /Mediamax/. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that he could have “easily” occupied Armenia’s southern Syunik region, but did not do so.

In an interview with Al Arabiya TV, the full text of which is provided by Trend, Aliyev said, in particular:

“After the Second Karabakh War, which ended in our victory, we could have taken this part by force. At that time, the Armenian army was completely demoralized. We did not seize this territory by force, but told Armenia that it could not obstruct our connection with Nakhchivan. For almost five years, we negotiated with them about these communication routes. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan began construction of a railway to the Armenian border to connect this road with Nakhchivan. Construction of highways was also started. The highway construction projects will likely be completed next year, as will the railway.

But during this nearly five-year negotiation process, Armenia failed to take a constructive approach to our demands or legitimate requests. Therefore, when President Trump and his team became involved and wanted to help move it forward, we conveyed the following to them: 

For the Zangezur corridor to function and for Azerbaijani citizens to travel safely along this forty-kilometer route, reliable international security guarantees must be provided. Guarantees from Armenia alone will not be sufficient.”

In another part of the interview, Aliyev stated:

“There were many rumors in media outlets about Azerbaijan preparing to occupy Zangezur or close the Iranian-Armenian border. This was a complete lie. We had no such intention. Again, if we had wanted to, we would have done it in November 2020. And it would have been very easy. Even over the past five years, it would not have been difficult to do. After all, the route is only forty kilometers long! From a military perspective, it would not have taken much time – you simply go from both sides, from Nakhchivan and the main part of Azerbaijan, and take it.”