President: Connecting the main part of Azerbaijan with its integral part - Nakhchivan was our long-standing dream

President Ilham Aliyev revealed details concerning the Zangezur corridor in an interview with Azerbaijan Television in Nakhchivan.

"Connecting the main part of Azerbaijan with its integral part - Nakhchivan has been our long-standing dream. We have been moving confidently and very skillfully, approaching this goal and have already come close to it," the head of state noted.

"You certainly remember that in connection with the end of the second Karabakh war, a trilateral statement was signed by the President of Azerbaijan, the President of Russia, and the Prime Minister of Armenia. In fact, for Armenia it was an act of capitulation, as Armenia surrendered. The Aghdam, Kalbajar, and Lachin districts, which were still under occupation at the time - we did not liberate those regions by military means - were returned to us without a single shot being fired. Naturally, Armenia did not do this voluntarily; we forced it. If under conditions of war you force someone, it means that side has capitulated. That is, one should not look for any humiliating or offensive meaning in this term. It is simply reality. We must know history as it is, and we must not forget it and must never allow distortions of history or such attempts. At that time - on November 9, after the liberation of the city of Shusha from occupation, trilateral negotiations were being held with the mediation of the President of Russia. I categorically insisted that the statement being signed must include a corridor connecting the main part of Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The Armenian side did not want to give its consent to this. But it did not have that many alternatives. If the war had continued, we too would have suffered losses, of course, but Armenia's losses would have been much greater. Because their troops were, one could say, surrounded, and in fact their destruction was entirely possible. Therefore, even without wanting it, Armenia gave its consent, and that statement is known to everyone; there is a special clause in it," the President concluded.