The opening ceremony of the first stage of the "Smart Village" project was held on May 27th in Aghali village of Zangilan region.

Ilham Aliyev noted that "the situation was different when the First Democratic Republic (1918) was established… However, the first republic did not last long and fell apart only about two years later… the Azerbaijani people were deprived of their freedom. At the same time, we all know well that Armenian nationalists unleashed aggression against our people and the young Democratic Republic at that time. As a result, the Azerbaijani people suffered greatly."

"It is already known not only in Azerbaijan but also in the whole world that a day after the declaration of our state independence, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic handed over our ancient city of Iravan (Yerevan) to Armenia, and this was an unforgivable crime. Thus, our ancient land fell apart from us," he added. "Just a few months after the collapse of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Zangezur was severed from us as well. Everyone should know this history. In November 1920, by a decision of the Soviet government, our historical land of Western Zangezur was separated from Azerbaijan and annexed to Armenia without any grounds whatsoever. That was another act of enmity and injustice against our people. The Azerbaijani people lived for centuries in the east and the west of Zangezur. And all the toponyms of West Zangezur in present-day Armenia, the national composition of all the villages belonged to the Azerbaijani people." He said that "the power factor will continue to dominate the world. Recent history shows this too. Therefore, we must continue to be strong and get stronger… We have resolved the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been resolved. As for the administrative territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, this name does not exist in the territory of Azerbaijan. Therefore, the word Nagorno-Karabakh is not in the lexicon of international organisations, and the recent meeting in Brussels showed it again. Indeed, Armenia has once again raised the issue, and, as they say, they are banging their head against the wall, but this is a reality, and they have to come to terms with it," President highlighted. 

"The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been resolved, and the Minsk Group has completed its activities. I have expressed my views on the Minsk Group, there is no need to repeat it, and we are in a post-conflict period now. We are living in this period, in the post-conflict period, we are dictating the agenda, and we have achieved what we wanted in the year and a half that has passed since the war. As I said, we have achieved or are achieving it. First, the world, leading countries, and international organisations have accepted new realities. This was very important because it could have been otherwise. This is our great political success. Secondly, our agenda is already taken as a basis by leading international organisations. I said that we must define the borders with Armenia. Armenia refused to do that, and it refused for a year and a half. But what was the result? The first meeting of the commissions was held on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border on 24 May. This means a lot – also from the point of view that we will define these boundaries, which is very important," he flagged.

Aliyev said that it was very important that the first meeting of the commissions was held on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border was held on 24 May. "Another issue is that we said a peace agreement should be signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia was trying to avoid this because a peace agreement means mutual recognition of the territorial integrity of countries. But as a result, we have achieved this, and Azerbaijan has already defined its working group. Another critical issue is the opening of the Zangezur corridor. Armenia has always tried to prevent this from happening. But again, look at the official statement of the Brussels meeting. It has already been determined that both the railway and the highway will pass through Mehri and Zangezur. So, we are achieving this, as I said we would. So, we are dictating the agenda. How? Of course, at the expense of the consequences of the war. Because we are a victorious state and Armenia is a defeated state. Everyone must accept this reality, and it is. Of course, this factor is at the forefront during Azerbaijani-Armenian contacts," he added.

Armenia MFA responded Aliyev's statements on 28 May. "The statements of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev delivered on May 27th once again demonstrate the non-constructive approach, the arbitrary, false interpretation of the agreements, and the continuation of aggressive and warmongering policy by the Azerbaijani side," message reads. "The aspirations towards the sovereign territory of the neighbouring country and standing from the position of use of force to achieve these goals are nothing but a contempt for the norms of international law, which seriously question the sincerity of Azerbaijan's intentions to achieve peace in the region. With its speculations, the Azerbaijani side attempts to present the Nagorno-Karabakh issue as a territorial dispute while it is about the realization of the rights of the Armenians of Artsakh and the exclusion of the threat of ethnic cleansing," MFA stated.

"In this regard, we remind that the international mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship received in 1995 to support the comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, does exist. We call on the leadership of Azerbaijan not to disrupt the discussions conducted in the existing formats with warmongering, expansionist rhetoric," Armenian MFA stated.

"At the same time, we draw the attention of the international community to the statements made by official Baku, and expect the unequivocal attitude of our international partners, which will make it possible to achieve stability and peace in the South Caucasus," message from MFA concluded.