It lasted for almost 30 years, and during these 30 years there were numerous rounds of useless, endless, meaningless negotiations, which had only one aim for those who were providing so-called umbrella for negotiations, only one aim: to keep our lands under Armenian occupation forever.

Axar.az reports that this was stated by President Ilham Aliyev at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Annual Meetings of the Islamic Development Bank Group was held in Baku.

The head of state, referring to the former OSCE Minsk Group, said that their only objective was to keep Azerbaijan’s territories under Armenian occupation:

"That was the goal of those who had a mandate to achieve peace and achieve liberation of our territories. I mean the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, three countries, three permanent members of the UN Security Council—France, Russia, United States—and can you imagine that these countries could not force Armenia to liberate Azerbaijani territory? No, of course not. They didn't want. They wanted our land to be under Armenian occupation. That was a joint decision, but we changed those plans."

Ilham Aliyev stated that Azerbaijan changed the situation:

We've been very hopeful in the beginning of the negotiation process, and me personally. I'm the President since 2003, and for 17 years I was involved, as I already said, in this useless, as it turned out, negotiations, trying to find a peaceful solution, trying to persuade—you know, big countries—that truth is on our side: “We are right. We are occupied. Look at the map. Look where Armenian forces are standing on our territory.” And what we heard in response? “Go and agree.” One message. Second message: there is no military solution. Third message: you cannot start a war. Fourth message: if you start war, you will be sanctioned, and many more.