Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, during a recent visit to Karabakh’s Karavatchar (Kelbajar) region, said that his government is strengthening the new border between Azerbaijan and Armenia and justified Azerbaijani troop movements in the area.

Aliyev, according to Minval.az, said that the border between the two countries must be redrawn in certain areas since it had been under Armenian control for the past thirty years.

“This is our land. The views expressed by Armenia are completely unfounded. We are on our land. Lake Sev is ours. Other territories are also ours. We have returned. This territory was held by the Armenians for thirty years. If the border traverses a place claimed by Armenians, then why didn't they stay there? What happened? When we arrived and stopped, they said that we were in the wrong place. We stand in the place where we need to, and, if we want, we will stand anywhere we see fit. Let no one forget this,” Aliyev is quoted as saying.

Azerbaijani troops first crossed into Armenia’s southern Syunik Province and approached Lake Sev in May of this year. The area in question is some ten kilometers north of Goris. Kelbajar was one of the districts returned to Azerbaijan as part of the November 9, 2020 ceasefire agreement signed by Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.