I am fully convinced that the Azerbaijanis must and will return to the lands controlled by the Karabakh peacekeeping mission today.

Axar.az reports that the statement came from President Ilham Aliyev while answering journalists' questions at a press conference for local and foreign journalists today.

"The statement signed on November 10 states this. Yes, it will take some time and joint efforts. But it is inevitable. We will also return to Khojaly. There is no other way. The Armenian side must understand those artificial obstacles. If he wants to create, he can only strike himself.

At the same time, I understand the issue you are talking about. The wounds of the war have not healed. Khojaly wounds will never heal. We will never forget the Khojaly genocide, both the relatives of the victims and the entire Azerbaijani people. It takes time for the wounds of war to heal. We understand this and we do not want to rush anyone, we do not want to force anyone. For us, the first step is the return of our citizens to the liberated lands.

At the same time, as I have already answered these questions, there are issues of ensuring lasting peace and reducing the risks of war to zero. Now, less than four months after the war, contacts are being established between Armenian and Azerbaijani officials, meetings are being held, sometimes in an open format, sometimes in an informal format. But this process is going on and this process is going in a positive direction. Therefore, understanding all this sensitivity here, I want to say again that we must be wise and take all steps in time to achieve what we want. Just as the timely steps taken in the Second Karabakh War have paid off," the President said.