A trilateral statement was signed by the president of Azerbaijan, the president of Russia, and the prime minister of Armenia on the end of the 2020 Karabakh war. In fact, for Armenia, it was an act of capitulation, because Armenia surrendered, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with local media.

“The regions of Aghdam, Kelbajar, and Lachin were returned to us [i.e. Azerbaijan] without a single shot. Naturally, Armenia did not do this voluntarily, we forced it [to do so]. If you force someone in war conditions, it means that that side has capitulated. that is, there is no need to look for any derogatory or offensive meaning in this term; this is just reality,” Aliyev said.

“On November 9, [2020] trilateral negotiations were being held under the mediation of the president of Russia. I was categorically insisting that the statement being signed must necessarily reflect the corridor connecting the main part of Azerbaijan with [its exclave,] the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The Armenian side did not want to give consent to this. But it did not have many alternatives,” the Azerbaijani leader noted

“If the war had continued, we, of course, would also have suffered losses, but Armenia’s losses would have been much greater, because their troops, one might say, were under siege, and in fact their destruction was quite possible. For that reason, even without wanting to, Armenia gave consent, and that statement is known to everyone, there is a special point there,” the Azerbaijani president concluded.