ISTANBUL / KHANKENDI, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday urged the Ukrainians to “never accept occupation.”

Speaking at a meeting with participants of the Third Shusha Global Media Forum in the city of Khankendi, Aliyev said that Azerbaijan never accepted the nearly 30-year occupation of its Karabakh region and that despite going through difficult periods, it ultimately liberated the region.

Aliyev argued that during the long years of occupation, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group was working to maintain the status quo on the issue rather than resolve it.

He further said that the group, founded in 1992 and co-chaired by France, Russia, and the US with the stated aim of facilitating the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, was telling Azerbaijan to accept the situation, but that Baku rejected this.

“We created a new reality in 44 days in 2020, and they were forced to accept it. Ukrainians must also not surrender and must never accept the violation of their territorial integrity,” Aliyev said, referring to the second Karabakh war in fall 2020, which paved the way for Karabakh’s full liberation in 2023.

On the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, now in its fourth year, he urged the Ukrainians to "never accept occupation."

Zangezur corridor

Aliyev also touched on the topic of the Zangezur corridor, stating this route will not only unite Azerbaijan’s territories but will also be a strategic link that will strengthen regional and international transportation.

Aliyev said that the corridor's annual capacity will reach 15 million tons and that Azerbaijan is rapidly pursuing railway construction on its own territory up to the country’s border with Armenia and Iran.

“We will complete this line in the summer of 2026. Unfortunately, no work has been done on the Armenian section," he said.

They (Armenia) are deliberately trying to avoid raising this issue. If they continue to try to obstruct this process, they will continue to be isolated both from transportation and political perspectives," Aliyev added.

The route would connect Azerbaijan with its exclave of Nakhchivan.