Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, in a speech delivered today in Shushi to mark Victory Day, admitted that Azerbaijan started the 2020 Artsakh war because it feared no one.  

“If we were afraid of someone, we would never have started the Second Karabakh war. Each of us was ready to die, but there was no return. It was either freedom or death,” Aliyev told Azerbaijani soldiers in Shushi according to press reports.

Aliyev said Armenia must reconcile with its military loss and make good on its obligations to normalize relations with Baku.

"If necessary, we will show once again that we can achieve what we want. Everyone knows this and those conducting military exercises near our borders in support of Armenia should also know it. No one can scare us,” Aliyev said referring to Iran.

Aliyev criticized those Muslim countries that support Armenia.

"We have established close relations with Muslim countries and have been able to explain to them that Armenia pursues an aggressive policy not only against us, but also against the entire Muslim world. Those who destroy mosques cannot make friends with Muslim countries. The leaders of Muslim countries cannot accept those who destroy mosques, right? Can they hug and kiss each other? It's hypocrisy, a betrayal. You can’t call it anything else.”

Aliyev warned Armenia not to provoke Azerbaijan further and not to rely on the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to change events of the ground.

Regarding the September border clashes, Aliyev said Azerbaijan responded to Armenian provocations and to preempt any Armenian military buildup in the area.

"We are teaching them this lesson and we hope that they will eventually understand it and take care of their internal affairs. Stop digging up our land, our Karabakh. Karabakh is our land. The Russian peacekeepers stationed there are temporary,” Aliyev said.

He also took a swipe at Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan.

“Immediately after the second Karabakh war, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was so afraid that he fulfilled those [ceasefire] provisions and returned the occupied territories of Aghdam, Kelbajar and Lachin regions to us without a single shot.”