On October 15, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited Khankendi [Stepanakert in Armenian], Aghdara, Khojaly, and Asgaran settlements of the Karabakh region. Aliyev raised the State Flag of Azerbaijan in the mentioned cities during his visit.Moreover, Police Major General Sardar Safarov was appointed commandant of Khankendi/Stepanakert. 

In his speech, Aliyev said, "Exactly 20 years ago, the people of Azerbaijan showed great confidence in me by electing me the President in the elections. At that time, I addressed my people and promised that I would defend the national interests of the Azerbaijani people and the Azerbaijani state and that I would protect the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. I took an oath with my hand on the Constitution and the Holy Quran. I am glad that all the promises I made during the last 20 years and all the tasks I set before myself have been fulfilled."

Regarding the recent military operation in Karabakh, the Azerbaijani leader emphasized: "The counterterrorism operation last month was inevitable. The people of Azerbaijan know very well, and I am sure so does the world community, that we wanted to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict peacefully. For seventeen years, I personally participated in meaningless and fruitless negotiations many times. Why? Because I thought that this issue should be resolved peacefully. But gradually, our hopes dwindled. Analyzing the occupation policy of Armenia once again, I can say with complete confidence today that they had no intention of returning even an inch of land to us. Unfortunately, the mediators dealing with this issue wanted to freeze the conflict, to perpetuate it. They wanted this wound to fester. The people and the state of Azerbaijan could never come to terms with this situation. I have often said that we will never accept this situation; we will never allow a second Armenian state to be created on our land."

Regarding de-facto ex-presidents of the former separatist Nagorno-Karabakh, Aliyev noted, "Some of those holding the highest office positions in this building are now in Baku. They wanted to come to Baku, threatened us, said that their tanks would be on the streets of Baku, and were right in a sense. Their tanks ended up in the Military Trophies Park. They said that they would come to Baku to have tea. And they are right in this, too. They are having tea now in a detention facility. The three clowns who called themselves "president" challenged us from this building, threatening and insulting us."

He added: "The three clowns who used to sit here and call themselves 'president' await their deserved punishment today. I wonder if the man who used to sit in one of these buildings and call himself a 'prime minister' will ever dare to threaten us again. His tea is being served in the detention facility as we speak. A separatist who called himself a 'foreign minister' once sarcastically said Azerbaijan should open an embassy in the country [in separatist Nagorno-Karabakh] if it wanted to raise its flag in Khankendi. Now, his tea is also served there in the detention facility. Our flag is flying high here. This should be a lesson to them."