Monday, September 27 2021 16:29

ArmInfo.Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said  that the military exercises conducted by Iran along the border with Azerbaijan are unexpected.

"As for the military exercises held near our borders, this is a very  unexpected event. Because there have been no such events in 30 years  of our independence. First of all, I must say that every country has  the right to conduct any military exercises on its territory. This is  its sovereign right. Nobody can tell it anything.  But when we  analyze it in time frames, we see that this has never happened. Why  now and why on our border? This question is not asked by me, but by  the Azerbaijani society, " Aliyev noted, while wondering why the  exercises in this area were not held during the period when the  troops of the Artsakh Defense Army were stationed there.  "Why were  the exercises not organized when the Armenians were in Jrakan  (Jabrayil), Kovsakan (Zangilan) and Varanda (Fizuli)? Why is this  done after we "liberated" these lands and ended the 30-year  occupation? These are fair questions. Of course, we We want the  region not to have a situation that could strike a blow to long-term  cooperation. Once again, I want to note that Azerbaijan is acting  very responsibly and balanced here. I hope that the emotional  reaction to our lawful steps is temporary, "Aliyev said in interview  with Anadol.

At the same time, he touched upon the problems encountered by Iranian  trucks on the Goris-Karpan road, 21 km of which is now under the  control of Azerbaijan. Aliyev Jr. expressed dissatisfaction with the  fact that Iranian trucks were allegedly leaving for Stepanakert.

"This is not the first case when Iranian trucks "illegally" enter  Karabakh. Trucks with the Iranian license plate entered there  regularly. We knew about this. But, of course, there was no such  specific information as now. However, this process continued. After  the end of the war, the Lachin corridor is now in our field of  vision," he said, adding that he instructed the staff of the  Presidential Administration to talk with the Iranian ambassador to  Azerbaijan and put an end to this.  He also said that Azerbaijan has  officially issued a diplomatic note, the Iranian Ambassador to  Azerbaijan was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

"He was complained and asked to put an end to it. It happened in  mid-August.  We hoped that it would end. But in the period from  August 11 to September 11, about 60 Iranian trucks illegally left for  Karabakh. 

To prevent this, we switched to the first time - a verbal warning,  the second - an official note, the third - checkpoints, customs,  border, police. Thus, we began to control the road passing through  the territory of Azerbaijan, and then the number of trucks heading to  Karabakh, has dropped to zero. Whether it was necessary to bring to  this?, "Aliyev asked, while assuring Iran that the Artsakh market was  not important, for the sake of which Tehran should have spoiled  relations with Baku.  

At the same time, he added that Iranian trucks must pay duties when  driving along the section of the Goris- Kapan road.  

To note, last week Iran, in response to the problems with the transit  of goods through Armenia, caused by Azerbaijan, pulled troops to the  Azerbaijani-Iranian border. Officially, Iran has conducted surprise  military exercises using all types of ground and air weapons.   Against this background, Turkey also deployed its weapons on the  border with the Islamic Republic, and Bayraktar TB2 drones began to  patrol the airspace along the border. Also, the topic of South  Azerbaijan returned to the information space - the territory in the  northwestern part of Iran with the center in the city of Tabriz,  inhabited by ethnic Azerbaijanis.